There are a lot of things I won’t miss about this University, but then there are also a lot of things I will. For example, I won’t miss the tag lines so universally touted by those at this school: honor and student-self governance, two ambiguously defined ideas that for some reason we’re all supposed to embrace as the keys to what makes us so unique. As if that’s not enough to make us unique, I also won’t miss the unnecessary nicknames we apply to the most basic of terms: our campus and our year. I’m sorry, but even after four years, I have trouble not feeling pretentious when I tell people that I did not live on campus as a freshman, but on Grounds as a first-year.
But then, pretentiousness is something we seem to pride ourselves on, too. After all, who other than University students delights so much in referring to this place as Mr. Jefferson’s University? We’re crazy to want so badly to live in a tiny room on the Lawn devoid of a private bathroom and susceptible to constant intrusions on our privacy by tourists who want to see how students “really lived” back in Jefferson’s time. Yet we do it for the same reason we find it so necessary to wear dresses and ties to football games, or spend a day drunk and dressed up at a horse race. We embrace pretentiousness.
Enough, though, of what I won’t miss about my time here. There is plenty to make up for the popped collar craze and the ill-defined buzzwords that supposedly make our University great.
When I took a tour here as a high school senior, I heard more about athletics, social activities, and tradition than I did about academic opportunities and professors. But the classes I have taken and the people who have taught them are what truly define a student’s experience here. From my first semester to my last, I have been inspired, challenged, encouraged and supported by numerous professors. As the students of such qualified and curious scholars, we have been given the opportunity to indulge our own curiosities and to seek out what interests us the most. The breadth of choices we are given each time the course offerings are released, and the depth of scholarship we are met with each time we attend a lecture are what truly make this University stand out.
Before my first year, I knew little about Charlottesville’s art and cultural scenes. Yet the artistic, musical, and overall creative culture that is Charlottesville goes well beyond the Dave Matthews Band and will hopefully continue to grow and flourish years from now. That we, as students, have access to so many creative opportunities around town makes the one-size-fits-all nature of Grounds much more bearable. For every pair of Seven jeans walking around Newcomb Hall, for every frat house blaring DMB songs throughout the day, there are any number of Charlottesville locations where students can go for relief from the monotony.
I will miss the Cavalier Daily not only as a source for University news, but also, and much more importantly, as a means for expressing my anger, appreciation, confusion, and/or disbelief, depending on what kind of news the previous week has brought. At a place where the party line is hard to escape, the student newspaper — especially the Opinion page — allows students to express their thoughts, whatever they may be. Criticism of University policies or of decisions made by student-run organizations is productive. It begins and sustains the kind of dialogue that will ultimately — hopefully — lead to change. I will miss having such a venue for free expression.
It practically goes without saying that I will miss my friends immensely. They more than anything or anyone else have made my time here meaningful and fulfilling.
And so four years have passed since the first day I walked on campus — Grounds, I mean — as a freshman — first-year, whatever. Much of that time has unfolded like a sitcom, and all too often I’ve had to take a step back and laugh at the sheer zaniness of it all. Listening to a University Guide telling prospective students about the community of trust while standing in front of a sign at the library reading: “Guard your belongings. Thefts have been reported.” Watching intoxicated fans tumble down the hill at Scott Stadium while the football team blows another lead. Watching classrooms deteriorate while the athletic department budget continues to expand. Mindlessly adopting U.Va.-speak and engaging in random ritualized practices all in the name of tradition.
So I can’t say I will miss guys in ties and girls in pearls or worshipping the school’s founder along with the rest of the TJ cult. Nor will I miss listening to administrators mindlessly babble on about student self-governance and upholding hundred-year-old traditions. What I will miss is something like a blooper reel of the University experience — the stuff the directors don’t really want the audience to see. Therein lie the most worthwhile moments of the past four years.
Amelia Meyer’s column appeared Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at a.meyer@cavalierdaily.com.
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