SUNDAY, The Washington Post published an article ("A University of Virginia student has a bright idea: 'Flash seminars,'" Feb. 20) highlighting a recent initiative undertaken by Rhodes Scholar and fourth-year College student Laura Nelson. While her academic prowess, leadership and character have certainly enriched many lives at the University, her idea for "flash seminars" provides a provocative lens through which to view disconcerting cultural shifts at the University. The formation of student-facilitated flash seminars creatively addresses growing student apathy toward academic discussion outside the lecture hall. With no disrespect to Nelson's efforts, I have to wonder if the necessity of formulating flash seminars reveals a growing division between Thomas Jefferson's vision for the University and the University as it exists today. Nelson's efforts to address student apathy are symptoms of larger causes: the erosion of the academic foundations of a University constantly threatened by its ominous trajectory toward "State U," and an ever-growing population of students.
When Jefferson founded the University, he departed radically from the standing norms of higher education. In architecture and academics, Jefferson conceptualized a University that would distinguish itself and the state of Virginia. John Steinbeck best summarizes what I believe to be the most important of Jefferson's guiding principles: "the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." To Jefferson, the "free, exploring mind" thrived best in a small community of faculty and students living and learning together. Saying in The Washington Post that the impetus for her seminars was "[having found] it difficult to find an intellectual community [at the University]," Nelson's impulse to link community and education evokes Jefferson's original vision of the University. The link, however, should also serve as a stark reminder the Community he envisioned is a lived reality for very few students.
I hope Nelson is lauded for having invested her time and effort in a unique solution to a problem she aptly has identified; however, the necessity of her action indicates clearly that continued growth of the University stifles the freedom and ability of many motivated students to learn in a community - one of trust and honor. Critical reception of the flash seminar concept proves how little the University, as a whole, understands the nature or magnitude of the problem Nelson addresses. Tuesday's lead editorial in The Cavalier Daily ("Flash in the pan," Feb. 22) posits that the administration must be responsible for better marketing flash seminars to the student body. The notion that the administration should be responsible for attracting students to flash seminars runs paradoxical to the beauty of Nelson's idea. She has capitalized on her freedoms as a student to address apathy, whereas the lead editorial, by faulting the administration for inadequately advertising, unwittingly reinforces the very apathy against which flash seminars rally.
Combating student apathy occurs best in communal environments in which parties are accountable to each other and take responsibility for their actions. Only then can truer academic freedom exist in the way Jefferson envisioned and Steinbeck describes. Nelson's solution-oriented pragmatism should be a starting point fostering wider discussion about complex and troubling shifts in the University's culture, as well as a clear illustration as to why it cannot afford to lose motivated, intelligent student-leaders like her. If the size of the University continues to increase, a sense of community will become harder to find and harder to foster, and student apathy will only increase. As this process occurs, I would venture a guess that students like Nelson will not diligently fight to solve the difficult problems that exist at the University because they will have accepted their offers from Yale.
JJ Litchford is a 2010 alumnus of the College.
Read More
CARTER: U.Va. Health owes clarity to transplant patients
By Nathaniel Carter | 2 days agoUnfortunately, this negative press is fully the fault of U.Va. Health — it failed to address significant stakeholder concerns when crafting its justification.
EDITORIAL: Upholding medical amnesty is a collective effort
By Editorial Board | 3 days agoUniversity leadership, Greek life organizations and students themselves must recommit to the safety provided by an effective and knowledgeable use of medical amnesty.
KURTZWEIL: Dockworkers’ unions cannot avoid the threat of automation
By Paul Kurtzweil | 4 days agoInstead of continuing to demand decreased automation, the union should work with the legislature in the hopes of driving investment into the reorganization of the current workforce.
