Dedicatory plaque to be retained.
Richard Gard, editor of the University of Virginia Alumni Association’s Virginia Magazine, has written a detailed account of why the Renaming and Memorials Committee recommended the removal of Edwin Alderman’s name from the newly renovated Alderman Library. The article delves into the paternalistic and condescending views of UVA’s first president toward Blacks and his support for eugenics, as well as the accomplishments of Edgar F. Shannon Jr., whose name is replacing Alderman’s on the library. It’s worth a read.
What’s missing from the article is any explanation of why, in the face of views that are so distasteful today, someone might oppose removing Alderman’s name. There is only the slightest hint that Alderman’s views on race might actually have represented a forward progression from the dominant sentiments of the time. There is no exploration of the idea that there is value in retaining the old memorials even as we reappraise, in light of evolving values, the individuals honored for their positive contributions.
Keeping the plaque is OK with John M. Unsworth, UVA’s dean of libraries who initiated the renaming request to the Naming and Memorials Committee. Said Unsworth to Gard: ““My goal is to see the building renamed, not to score points on the dead.”
Some might say that renaming the building is the very essence of scoring points on the dead.
Taking down statues? Removing plaques? Are we living in the age of Fahrenheit 451? If we keep removing the accounts of our history by which some are offended, the newly renamed library will be devoid of books.
Please read the article – https://uvamagazine.org/articles/renovating_the_name_too
This was drafted prior to the vote apparently.
I requested the documents of the Naming and Memorial Committee on September 7, 2023, and ALL documents were withheld as “working papers” of the President. That is patently absurd. But UVA contends that if it is a “special” “presidential” committee, then everything can be withheld FOR YEARS and FOREVER – no matter how many times the Committee has met or what might have been spent or even granted.
Working papers are documents created BY or FOR Jim Ryan “for his personal or deliberative privilege.” This is supposed to be a limited, narrowly construed exception to FOIA. Under UVA’s interpretation then EVERYTHING is for Ryan’s deliberative privilege because he is the final decision maker.
Again, PATENTLY absurd.
But let’s go further…how was this article written so quickly since all the documents are exempt working papers?
How could Gard cite “ a 27-page white paper on Alderman that retired UVA history professor Phyllis Leffler had prepared” or this factoid “After consulting Gregory Michael Dorr’s (Grad ’94, ’00) cited book on eugenics in Virginia, Segregation’s Science, the committee retrieved the UVA doctoral dissertation that underlay it, and then it had him present to the committee himself.”
Why, it’s almost as if UVA kept things hidden on purpose until it was a fait accompli. You could hear the BOV asking where these things came from. I’ll let you in – from the Marxist ideology infecting everything at UVA. UVA broke the FOIA law here. Repeatedly. UVA violated its supposed “unequivocal” support for free speech.
It is ridiculous that we are supposed to wait for Youngkin to appoint 5 more BOV members to provide oversight. The existing Northam members are in favor of playing hide the ball? Breaking the law? Seriously – are you really just partisan hacks? What other conclusion can I draw? Give me a rational explanation for people who are supposed to run an educational institution for the benefit of all citizens of the Commonwealth (first duty in the Statutes). And supposed to honor the Jeffersonian legacy (free speech would seem to matter). That’s on the BOV. Do your educational, statutory jobs. If you are being a political hack, quit being a political hack. Losing respect for people I otherwise thought were worthy of it.
Now – onto University Counsel and the AG. AG Miyares should get with all of his counsels at the “public institutions of higher learning” and insist on following the FOIA laws – now!
I’d like to know how each of the Younkin appointees to the BOV voted on the name change. Anyone know?
The vote was unanimous except for one abstention (Paul Harris). Steve Long said he voted yes… with strong reservations. Others voted yes, I hear, because Youngkin (or his policy advisers) asked them to. With all the other issues he’s dealing with, apparently, Youngkin didn’t want the distraction.
I appreciate that point of view, but I don’t share it. The issue of such “presentism” must be tackled head-on if we are ever going to overcome trendy left-wing nonsense. Further, I would rather BOV members be guided by a kind of fiduciary duty towards achieving a better university than simply take their cues from the Governor. I am happy with his appointments. I wish he would step back and let them do their duty. If the Governor’s policy advisors actually asked his BOV appointees to vote in favor of the name change, I’m appalled. That’s a story in itself for this Jefferson Council blog, don’t you think?
It is ironic that UVa cancels buildings named after leaders who believed in the “settled science” of one hundred twenty years ago. I try to imagine conditions in North America one hundred twenty years from now, and how the current “settled science” works out.
Excellent point JN! I thought the most interesting part of Gard’s article was when he hinted that Alderman may not truly believed in eugenics but “was swept along by the surge in scientific racism.”
I am sure many people on Grounds today understand what that’s like … mindlessly and blindly repeating something because they were swept along by what “everyone else” is saying.
I was a student in the early 1960’s when Shannon was President. So, I imagine that as part of the renaming process it was determined that Edgar Finley Shannon was free from any sin? Perhaps his name should be posted on the library on a removable sign, as his day will come by today’s renaming standards.
Those same racists who voted to cancel Alderman support Planned Parenthood, founded by a eugenicist.
Another example of the moronic dissonance between the virtues of the past and the shifting mores of the present day. The re-imagination of a perfect world guided by the “virtues” of today doesn’t play well with the reality of history.
Times and tempers change, but the essential nature of the Human Spirit does not. Would you substitute the Divine Right of Kings, as espoused by King James, for the freedom of the US? Would you reject the abnegation of science and sexual identity by today’s trans opportunists for some fantasy of a totally fluid sense of identity? Both sides are working this and need to be more intellectually honest.
Let’s hope that a return to open and rational debate will soon come.
In the meantime, I will give no money to UVA, as I have written to Presdient Ryan. Follow my example if you will and the Woke Administration at the University may hear us.
If it’s not “scoring points on the dead” what in the world is it? It’s one thing to have an opinion: it’s another to be disingenuous. At least have the courage of your convictions.
It is very disappointing that Governor Youngkin’s appointees with the exception of Paul Harris voted for this. Bert Ellis included.
Quite telling that at the very same BOV meeting in which a former UVA president was elevated to a position of having his name placed on the second most important building on Grounds as a way to remember his “great and good” actions, the current UVA president, that being Ryan, stays silent and acts in no way to protect jewish students from the hateful antisemitism they have been subjected to under his watch.
And then to enforce the silence his lackey Rector “Hard Stop” Hardie threatens a reprimand for anyone rightfully seeking to address the issue. Is this really happening at our University? Is this behavior on the part of a current president that should go forward unaddressed? Are we as the UVA community to be proud of such? Where is oversight? Why does anyone contribute even a penny to such an institution headed by such disgraceful and abhorrent leadership?
And finally, is this spectacle of condoning antisemitism at the BOV level fully controlled by Ryan a proper example to the student body on the part of supposed adults who should know better?!!!!
Going forward into the future would anyone in their right mind entertain even the thought of naming any entity whatsoever on Grounds for Ryan, given his behavior at this very moment?
Why was the vote practically unanimous including Bert Ellis?