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University Dean of Students Allen Groves sent an email Saturday to Lawn and Range residents announcing the designation of a gender-neutral bathroom on the West Lawn.
Earlier this month the incoming Lawn residents were announced for the academic year of 2017-18. Although The Cavalier Daily ran an opinion piece almost immediately that criticized this group’s lack of intellectual diversity, what is often lost in the uproar that surrounds the release of lawn selections is the very establishment that chooses these residents: the Lawn Selection Committee. This body consists of 52 students, 26 of which are ex-officio student members that represent a broad range of individuals such as the University Judiciary Committee, Student Council, the Honor Committee, the Intra-fraternity and Intra-Sorority Councils and various minority-run CIOs such as the Black Student Alliance and Queer Student Association. The additional 26 students are fourth-years chosen at random. I had the tremendous privilege of being selected at random to help choose next year’s Lawn residents. Despite the joyful and enlightening experience that this was for me, the Lawn Selections Committee should not include these 26 randomly selected students.
It’s become a bit of a tradition. Each year, The Cavalier Daily will run a piece arguing the Lawn selection process is flawed and must be changed to ensure more diversity or more accurate representation. In 2015, the Managing Board opined that the Lawn room selection process should focus on diversity of experiences, rather than offer residency as a reward for the University’s most laudable students. The next year, former columnist Mary Russo advocated removing grade point average as a criteria for lawn room applications. And just last week, fourth-year College student Brittany Hacker argued the calibration committee should ensure each school at the University is accurately represented.
I have only spent a few months getting acclimated to the new environment on "Grounds" amongst my fellow "hoos" as a "first-year." I get it; as someone so new to the college education system, my opinion doesn't hold much value, and I really ought to just zip it and defer to the upperclassmen. But I believe my (and our) first-year perspective to be of value. The external and less prejudiced origin from where my viewpoint derives itself from is necessary to spurring change and, consequently, improvement to this great university. Today, I urge reconsideration on only one event, and one event only.
So far in my college career, my main motivation for doing anything has been food of the non-dining hall assortment. When my roommate offered a spot to go with her for the Jefferson Society’s Wilson Day Formal, I happily obliged. Good food and a chance to wear that dress I’ve had in my closet for two years? Sign me up!
The Lawn is the center of the University, but the role of the space has drifted further and further away from Thomas Jefferson’s original vision. He intended it to be an educational center but expansion of the University over the years has turned the Lawn solely into a historical site rather than an educational area. The area is steeped in tradition and history, but it has also become steeped in elitism because the Lawn is associated with the prestige that comes with living in a Lawn room or a pavilion. Only the “best” students are selected to live on the Lawn, which is what has made the space more elite in recent years than it was at its conception, when all students lived on the Lawn. The prestige associated with the space can be intimidating to students because only the best of the best are accepted to inhabit the hallowed area. This sense of history does not have to be entirely associated with elitism, though, because the University has the potential to harness the historic nature of the space in a positive way to create a more accessible Lawn environment.
The Lawn is the center of the University, but the role of the space has drifted further and further away from Thomas Jefferson’s original vision. He intended it to be an educational center but expansion of the University over the years has turned the Lawn solely into a historical site rather than an educational area. The area is steeped in tradition and history, but it has also become steeped in elitism because the Lawn is associated with the prestige that comes with living in a Lawn room or a pavilion. Only the “best” students are selected to live on the Lawn, which is what has made the space more elite in recent years than it was at its conception, when all students lived on the Lawn. The prestige associated with the space can be intimidating to students because only the best of the best are accepted to inhabit the hallowed area. This sense of history does not have to be entirely associated with elitism, though, because the University has the potential to harness the historic nature of the space in a positive way to create a more accessible Lawn environment.
As over-zealous, soon-to-be first-years fill Grounds during Days on the Lawn season, many are likely thinking about what classes they have to take to take to fill requirements for a major they may soon change. However, students have a variety of motivations for how they should fill their schedules. A need for certain introductory courses or major requirements can lead to overcrowded lecture halls and content students may not necessarily be interested in, but feel they should know.
When I arrive at the Garrett Hall bus stop, there are roughly a hundred students, mostly black, standing and conversing on the steps adjacent to the road. It's 8 p.m. and the sky is dark; a single spotlight stands at the base of the steps, illuminating the crowd from below. Under the organization of the Black Student Alliance and the local NAACP chapter, students have gathered here to stand in solidarity with fellow activists at Yale and the University of Missouri following occurrences of racist incidents there. A representative from the NAACP makes opening remarks, two students sing and another recites the poem “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay. Then, BSA President Aryn Frazier walks down from the steps and begins talking.
I never felt a sense of ownership of the Lawn — that is, I never felt like I belonged on the Lawn — until I joined the University Guide Service at the start of last semester. Part of the reason why is that the organization maintains a space inside of Pavilion VIII furnished with tables and couches for its members to use. The room was initially intended for general student use, but members of the Guide Service colonized and decorated it years ago. For me, it has been a space to meet friends and study in between classes. No other student group holds such a space on the Lawn, a fact which contributes to what I perceive to be a general lack of inclusivity and student participation on the Lawn.
The Managing Board apologizes for the publication of two articles in the April Fools edition. They have since been removed.
Aside from Lawn rooms, which are inaccessible to the majority of University students, there are few spaces that students occupy on the Lawn. Each pavilion except for Pavilion VII houses a faculty resident, consistent with Thomas Jefferson’s plan for students to live among faculty members. Faculty residence in the Lawn pavilions greatly limits the amount of space students can access on the Lawn, which contributes to what I perceive to be a general lack of student participation on the Lawn. A radical solution to the Lawn’s lack of student space would be to discontinue faculty residence in pavilions as Jefferson intended and instead introduce student spaces to each pavilion.
Forty-one percent. Less than half of all undergraduates at the University live on Grounds; keep in mind, the figure itself is artificially high, as it includes first-years for whom on-Grounds accommodations are mandatory. Over the years, the University has grown undeniably distant from the original Jeffersonian goal of an Academical Village, a community in which students and faculty live and learn in unison. Though the University’s commitment to that vision remains strong in principle and in practice to a degree, the despairingly low percentage of students living in on-Grounds housing indicates our housing system has, for the clear majority of students, failed to live up to Jefferson’s original vision. In response to recent events at the University, my fellow writer Mary Russo highlighted the need for a program of off-Grounds Resident Advisors in order to provide students living off Grounds with the advising resources and safety students living on Grounds might take for granted. While the idea is certainly a strong one, it is equally important for the University to make new strides in ensuring that affordable, on-Grounds housing options remain viable for future upperclassmen.
This year, The Cavalier Daily turns 125 years old. To mark the occasion, and in recognition of the many alumni coming back to Grounds for Homecomings this weekend, we’ve compiled a selection of articles from The Cavalier Daily archives. The articles are presented as they were originally written, with the author, headline and accompanying photo presented when available.
As Final Exercises do not bestow diplomas, what is their purpose at the University? A purely symbolic one. Therefore, when filling out the survey of how graduation should be altered during Rotunda renovations, we should choose the option that best maintains the symbolism that makes Final Exercises worthwhile. We should elect to preserve graduation on the Lawn and keep all graduates together by voting for option one: “Stay on the Lawn, Sharply Limit the Number of Guests.”
Whatever graduation plan is chosen, one thing is certain: next year’s graduation is bound to be an interesting one. In considering which graduation plan is best, it is necessary to define what it is about the graduation experience that must be preserved. Obviously, the Lawn must continue to play a central role, if a somewhat altered one. Upon closer examination, however, I find that only the second option fulfills this goal. The first option, in limiting the number of guests to two, dismisses the right of parents and friends alike to participate in the ceremony. By concluding graduation in Scott Stadium, the third option unjustifiably removes the Lawn from the core of the experience.
Wednesday, surveys were released to gauge student opinions regarding the University’s final exercises for the coming years. The surveys focus on the Class of 2015 and 2016 graduation ceremonies, which will both occur alongside the Rotunda renovations. But they also bring up the more pressing topic of how the University will respond to the challenging task of fitting growing graduating class sizes on the Lawn. The most advantageous solution for the short-term and potentially the long-term is to move final exercises to Scott Stadium.
At a private meeting Monday afternoon, University administrators told several student leaders that the next phase of Rotunda renovations will impact Final Exercises for the Class of 2015 and potentially 2016.
This week, The Cavalier Daily will humbly present you with its annual housing issue. Last year, my column in the housing issue aimed to illuminate the benefits of on-Grounds housing. But regardless of where you live, you’re still going to have to address this very important question: Who are you going to live with? For unless you’re a particularly lucky first year, a privileged upperclassman in on-Grounds housing, living on the Lawn, or wealthy enough to afford your own place off-Grounds, you probably have a roommate. It can be really intimidating to move into a room with another person, particularly if you don’t know them very well (but even if you do). Here’s my advice: Approach your roommate relationship with very few expectations. Be honest about everything. And appreciate the opportunity to hone your “people skills” if things start to go downhill. Trust me — this will help you later in life.
It only seems appropriate I take this time to discuss the plague. I’m sure you’re familiar with it. After all, it’s only been 650 years or so since the bubonic strain took out a third of Europe’s population. I am almost certain the epidemic afflicting first years on Grounds is equally if not more severe. To give you a sense of perspective, the plague is followed, in descending order of severity, by swine flu, mad cow disease and Ebola. We do not laugh about the plague.