I know I put this in the Hatin' On Thread, but I thought the insanity of this was worthy of its own thread (especially during Hate Week).
It's not a long lead, but this was my favorite part:
"Though we realize that some members of our university community may be inspired by quotes from Jefferson, we also realize that many of us are deeply offended by attempts on behalf of our administration to guide our moral behavior through their use," the letter stated.
In short, the university president quoted TJ during an address to the students after Trump's election. Now, a number of faculty and students believe its inappropriate to quote a man who was so immoral as to own slaves, but still keep a giant statue of him on campus.
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That being said, I don't excuse what Jefferson did, but the greatest disservice you can do the past is view it through the lens of the present.
Yeah, I guess this thread has the potential to get out of hand.
What baffles me, is that how do you protest the president using a quote of TJ, but the statue doesn't bother anyone at all?
What baffles me is the fact that in the past, they've shoved Thomas Jefferson down our throats every chance they get, but now are offended when Teresa Sullivan quotes him. I don't want to hear any Wahoos brag about Jefferson being their founder ever again.
The complaint/petition/letter/whatever was only signed by about 400 people, a mix of students and faculty. That's about 1.7% of the student/faculty population at UVA. Safe to say most of the other 23,687 students & faculty don't have a problem with quoting their university's founder...
I agree with VT_Fencer on this. The discussion probably doesn't belong on a sports forum, though.
It's unfortunate to view historical figures through today's political correctness standards. No historical figures will pass by those standards. We all reflect the values of our time.
Thomas Jefferson was, by any standard, a great thinker/writer and ahead of his time. His perspectives on slavery are a reflection of his time, so it's a bit nonsensical to judge him by contemporary standards. Our standards have changed during the past couple of decades, let alone the past couple of centuries. Students who disagree with this probably have no business at UVa.
History is waaaaay more complicated than most ideologues would like to admit.
So this petition was signed by more people than the attendance of a spring festival?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
See also: Doublethink
"Those who forget history are bound to repeat it."
OT- NICE SLAB!
A similar situation came to a head in Clemson during my senior year. After a culmination of student body related events and Ferguson, the students got into quite a back and forth over renaming Tillman Hall, the clocktower building on campus, because Tillman owned slaves and was a notable racist. This whole situation got about as out of hand and incredibly racist as you can imagine. Those familiar with Yik Yak can only imagine the discussion taking place on that (terrible) medium. These issues have carried over into the last few years as well.
They actually just renamed the building I work in here at UVA because the guy it was named after (Harvey E. Jordan) was a prominent eugenicist. Nobody complained about the change though and now it's Pinn Hall.
Pretty boring article/story but it's here if you want it.
I have very strong opinions on this type of stuff, but I come here to get away from it and reflect on what is really important, VT FOOTBALL and VT BUZZKETBALL.
Absolutely agree. We need to focus on what's important in this world, like Buzz and the boys being 3-0 and the fact tha CJF hasn't won a commonwealth cup yet!!! Hopefully by Saturday Buzz will be 4-0 and CJF will win the first of his many commonwealth cups!!!!
FTFY.
Thanks fam! #BetterRecordThanDuke
The only thing I'll say is that its pretty funny that a faculty member would support this, and then cash checks from the institution Jefferson founded.
LOLUVA....that's all I have to say about that.
This thread adds nothing of value to the discussion on TKP.
As do many of the threads created on TKP that are just for fun.
Moderator, please just delete this thread, this isn't even worth it
Don't feel too bad, man. It was a well-intended effort
So as a graduate student at UVA we usually take recruits to Monticello to do tours when they come to visit. I know it has no affiliation to the University, but it's been interesting to see how they talk about him owning slaves each year. The first year I went, they hardly mentioned it. The second year, they mentioned it more and also hinted at the fact that he may have fathered children with a slave. More recently, they now mention that her name was Sally Hemmings and I believe they even do some tours focusing on the slaves and their lives.
This doesn't really add anything to the thread other than the fact that I think people are starting to accept the history and not try to hide it anymore. I think teaching people what actually happened can only be a good thing.
This is true of any historical monument of that era in the U.S. The focus of historical interest in these sites has changed significantly.
BUT! The clock at Monticello is pretty cool!
~ Thomas Jefferson, surely at some point
Come at me, 400+ students/faculty members!
I could get myself down voted straight off this forum in a thread like this. Fuck this shit I'm out!
As much as I disdain UVA, the idea of people criticizing the president of a university for quoting that school's founder is absolutely absurd. Such a Wahoo thing to do...
Wow this thread had the potential to be a shitshow, and it wasn't. Congratulations TKP fam
Nicely done everybody, nobody stepped on a land mine. I clicked this thread figuring the Abe Simpson gif would be necessary, nope.
Now let's just beat LOLuva!
Nah, that all happened on the coaches music choice thread. Apparently DMB is a REALLY hot button issue.
all I can say is that if DMB is for the LGBT crowd, then you can call me questioning (too soon?)
You know, its Funny the Way It Is, but between You & Me, one could say I Two Step'd around that Grey Street of a topic. The Space Between good and bad posts is really how well people Don't Drink the Water and feed the trolls who clearly have So Much to Say. Otherwise, we're all just in a Typical Situation of Ants Marching toward our end where we Lie in our Graves.
It always takes me way too long to figure those things out.