The president of the University of Virginia was recently reprimanded by a group of students and faculty for quoting a man they say “undermines the message of unity, equality and civility” the university wants to convey and prevents the school from being “the kind of inclusive, respectful community” the group says their alma mater should be.
Just who is this man whose words included in a letter from the university’s president has, according to Noelle Hurd, an assistant professor of psychology and co-author of the letter, created a “hostile environment” at the prestigious southern school?
He is none other than Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the University of Virginia.
School newspaper The Daily Cavalier reports that current university president Teresa Sullivan sent a mass e-mail on November 9, the day after Donald Trump’s election as president of the United States, “encouraging students to stay resilient and hopeful” despite the Donald’s electoral victory.
“Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend that University of Virginia students ‘are not of ordinary significance only: they are exactly the persons who are to succeed to the government of our country, and to rule its future enmities, its friendships and fortunes.’… I encourage today’s U.Va. students to embrace that responsibility,” Sullivan wrote.
{modulepos inner_text_ad}
No sooner had the short message shown up in campus inboxes than the social justice warriors (nicknamed “snowflakes” for their delicate natures) fired off a response demanding that Jefferson no longer be mentioned by members of the faculty at the school he founded.
Nearly 500 students and professors signed their names to a letter slamming Sullivan for her use of a quote by a man who “owned slaves.”
“For many of us, the inclusion of Jefferson quotations in these e-mails undermines the message of unity, equality and civility that you are attempting to convey,” read the letter.
“We would like for our administration to understand that although some members of this community may have come to this university because of Thomas Jefferson’s legacy, others of us came here in spite of it,” the group added in its written reaction.
“Thomas Jefferson owned hundreds of slaves. Other memorable Jefferson quotes include that Blacks are ‘inferior to the whites in the endowments of body and mind,’ and ‘as incapable as children of taking care of themselves,'” the group informed Sullivan. “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.”
Before addressing the aim to silence anyone from the history of our country who owned slaves, we should recognize that President Sullivan is no alt-right reactionary, but a devoted Leftist who has been forced to defend the father of agrarian republicanism, Thomas Jefferson.
In her response to the group’s harangue, Sullivan doesn’t exactly ride to Jefferson’s defense.
“Quoting Jefferson [or any historical figure] does not imply an endorsement of all the social structures and beliefs of his time, such as slavery and the exclusion of women and people of color from the university,” Sullivan explained.
What a brave new world we live in when we witness the emergence of such Leftist-on-Leftist attacks!
It’s not as if some right-wing history professor published a paper praising John Calhoun or suggesting the Civil War wasn’t fought over slavery (which, of course, it wasn’t). This was a college administrator being called on the carpet by college radicals, quick to cull from their ranks anyone who dares even reference a Founding Father without including a roster of the crimes against humanity of which the Leftists have accused him.
In an article published by the Abbeville Institute, the snowflakes’ savaging of Sullivan is described as “[Maximilien] Robespierre lopping off the head of [Georges] Danton.”
Robespierre and Danton were both participants and promoters of the Reign of Terror that rampaged throughout France during that country’s 18th century revolution.
Days ago, a group of University of Virginia alumni and friends joined the fray, publishing a petition describing Sullivan’s accusers as “vultures” whose “selfish posture” will “put the University in a dangerously unstable position.”
In the letter, the petitioners “demand the resignations of all professors and deans signatory to the recent letter slandering Mr. Jefferson and attacking President Sullivan for quoting his words, as well as “the immediate censure of the offending employees and a public statement by the University of Virginia in support of its founder.”
The petition closes with a solid shot, not holding back from burying those uncomfortable with quoting Thomas Jefferson under a pile of powerful words written by the Sage of Monticello himself:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
And if those words offend them, perhaps these may prove more satisfactory: “No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men.”
As of November 19, President Sullivan has not resigned, the group pressuring her to recant has not relented, and the petition calling for the resignation of all those who feel threatened by a mere mention of Thomas Jefferson has 127 supporters.
Photo: The Rotunda at the University of Virginia
