What does it mean to be a college student in the 21st century? It means having role models like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, who simply couldn’t be bothered to slave over a degree. It means paying up to $50,000 per year to check Facebook 239 times during lecture and retweet the boy two rows back. It means drinking away Saturdays without knowing if you’ll have a job when the bottle and four years runs out.
In the past year, I’ve aimed to describe the trials and tribulations of the modern 18- to 20-something, conveniently set in Charlottesville, the Land of Plenty. I’ve been critical. I’ve been harsh — I compared eating in the dining hall to working in a post-Industrial Revolution sweatshop. What made me think that was an appropriate comparison to make? I now recognize that finding something distinctly not clammy in my clam linguine made me a little irrational, and perhaps a touch melodramatic.
I’ll admit, I haven’t been entirely fair. I truly believe the University of Virginia is one of the best colleges in the country, if not the world. Even on my worst days, there is no place I would rather be — and I mean that.
That’s why, for my final column of the school year, I’ve decided to give dear Thomas Jefferson a break — though I was slightly disturbed by the orgasmic levels of excitement surrounding his birthday this past weekend. The dude’s been dead for 187 years. Unlike his beloved wines, I don’t think he’s still improving with each year.
Below, you’ll find a few reasons why I’ll ardently defend my school until my dying day. And no matter what other Virginia schools will tell you, it’s not because I’m a self-absorbed, madras-loving prick.
1. U.Va. hosts some of the most dedicated, passionately involved students in the nation.
Remember when the fire marshal came into your first-grade classroom and taught you the intricacies of the “stop, drop and roll?” They lied to you. There was never any danger of fire. They had a single purpose in mind: preparing you for tabling.
I know the Lawn looks perfectly harmless on many a spring afternoon. Studying students? Check. Frisbee game? Affirmative. Neurotic students with event mini-flyers chasing after you with all the tenacity of a rabid dog fed only the dining hall’s clam linguine in the past 40 days? Yeah, there’s that too.
If there’s one thing you can say about University students, it’s that they care. Enough to wake up early on a Monday morning knowing they’ll be playing human dodgeball. Enough to foil even the most serpentine of walkers. Enough to see through all my fake calls to Grandma. Enough to tell me I’m not stealthy and is it really that bad to just take a damn flier?
They care enough to make you feel bad for not taking their fliers anyway. It’s a lot of caring in a very small space, really, and as exhausting as it may be, I’d be lying if I didn’t say it’s kind of beautiful.
2. U.Va. pairs its impressive academics with a legendary social scene.
We’d tell you about it, but no one can seem to remember any details. Funny how that works.
3. U.Va.’s Grounds are a renowned historical site personally designed by one of our nation’s founding fathers.
The University of Virginia is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Want to know what else is a UNESCO World Heritage Site? Yellowstone National Park. Also Papahānaumokuākea, a “linear cluster of low-lying islands and atolls” near Hawaii. Also a site cleverly listed as “Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps.” I’ll be honest: I felt a tad more special before I actually looked up the list.
But we’ve earned our spot on that list. Our University stands up to even the neatest of piles. Just look at this place. The bulldozers in all their antique glory. The way the caution tape tenderly ropes off forbidden areas. Sometimes I can’t help but close my eyes and soak in the crescendo of the jackhammers in the morning, the perfect cacophony of near-death encounters between students and cars as the age-old battle between man and machine carries on.
There’s something in the air. Something special. And I don’t think it’s just pollen. There’s a majesty in the architecture here at the nation’s first secular university, and a powerful beauty in attending a school so meticulously designed expressly for rational inquiry and education.
Thomas Jefferson shaped more than just the Rotunda. Our ideology, our thoughts on honor, the way we approach our curricula — all stem from one of the biggest names in American history. No amount of sass or scaffolding can hide how cool that is.
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