The University Guide Service announced Wednesday in a statement on Instagram that the University has suspended them from conducting both admissions and historical tours, citing concerns from the University over tour attendance and tour quality. According to the statement, the Guide Service will continue to work with the University to develop an agreement that would allow for future Guide Service-led tours, and the group will continue their recruitment operations for the semester.
The Guide Service is a student-run organization on Grounds that gave admissions and historical tours to prospective students, families and visitors. As a Special Status Organization, the group is among a handful of other groups on Grounds — such as Student Council and the University Board of Elections — that are trusted to act as agents of the University. This designation means that they are required to keep a close working relationship with a University advisor.
University spokesperson Bethanie Glover said in an email statement to The Cavalier Daily that instead of members of the Guide Service, student interns employed by the Office of Admission will be conducting admissions tours for prospective students and their families. According to Glover, the University has been in “close contact” with the Guide Service and its leadership over the past two years, cooperating to develop plans for the future of the Guide Service and admissions tours.
“The University Guide Service has a longstanding, proud tradition of providing tours on the University's behalf,” Glover said. “In the interest of continuing that tradition, we are working with the [Guide Service] on a performance improvement plan which will extend through the fall 2024 semester, reviewing the University's expectations for guide attendance and tour content and delivery.”
According to the Guide Service’s statement, the suspension of their tours is a result of the University administration’s belief that the organization is failing to fulfill its designated responsibilities. The Guide Service refuted this idea, claiming the administration paints an incomplete story of its performance, as the group keeps its own internal accountability measures.
“The justification for these suspensions is based on the Administration’s view that UGS is failing to fulfill its delegated functions, particularly in terms of reliability and tour quality,” the statement reads. “Our own accountability measures — including tour feedback solicited from all admissions tour visitors — suggest that this is an incomplete view of our tours.”
The Jefferson Council, an alumni group whose stated goals are to promote a culture of civil dialogue at the University and preserve Jefferson’s legacy, has historically criticized the Guide Service for inserting “radical views” and “inflammatory opinions” into its tours.
In 2022, the Jefferson Council’s co-founder and former president Bert Ellis was appointed to the Board of Visitors. Both before and after his appointment to the Board, Ellis has consistently been a vocal critic of the Guide Service for the content of its tours.
“The University Guides now seem intent on ‘contextualizing’ Mr. Jefferson as a slave holder and rapist, and to completely undermine his part of the Founding of America and our University,” Ellis said in a 2021 article published to the Jefferson Council’s website.
According to the statement from the Guide Service, the group plans to continue to work with administrators so that it can return to giving tours in conjunction with the University.
“We believe our mission is better fulfilled when we can offer tours in collaboration with the University,” the statement said. “This will remain true so long as this relationship does not harm our ability to share an honest and complete account of U.Va. and its history.”
This is a developing story.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly labeled the Honor Committee and University Judiciary Committee as SSOs. These organizations are Agency Organizations, and the article has been updated to reflect this change.
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