The Curious Case of the Missing Podcasts

Posted on August 10, 2023 by | 9 comments
Where's my podcast, dude?

Where’s my podcast, dude?

by Walter Smith

In 2019 the Carter G. Woodson Institute, founded to teach and research African-American studies at the University of Virginia, announced a major initiative: a six-part podcast series exploring “Jefferson’s complicated legacy.” Funding was obtained, a launch party was thrown, and two episodes were aired. Then the podcast went silent.

What happened? Why didn’t the Woodson Institute follow the project to completion? Why would UVa heavily promote the initiative in its house media only to let it quietly disappear?

It is an arcane story, yet a telling one. It reveals much about what UVa has become. Ever since the infamous F— UVA sign was posted on the Lawn and its author referred in a secretly recorded conversation with President Jim Ryan to Thomas Jefferson as a “slave-holding rapist,” many alumni have wondered where the animus against Jefferson originated. The answer is that it comes in considerable part from the administration.

The rollout. The Woodson Institute filed a grant application with UVA’s Bicentennial Fund to produce the six episodes and was awarded $20,000 to do so. The timeline in the grant application anticipated a release in the fall of 2018 in the lead-up to the 200th anniversary of UVa’s founding.

The rollout didn’t take place until February 2019. That month UVA Today featured, “Notes on the State of Virginia,” billing it as a six-part series exploring explore Jefferson’s legacy. Continue reading →

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Posted in Jefferson legacy, Leftist orthodoxy

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JTC Honor Committee Update

Posted on August 9, 2023 by | Leave a comment

In a recent article The Daily Progress, Charlottesville’s daily newspaper, highlighted the continuing debate over the University of Virginia honor code. We thank reporter Faith Redd for reaching out to The Jefferson Council for an interview — which is not exactly standard practice (but should be!) for other Virginia media regarding governance issues at UVa.

I was delighted to be quoted at some length in the article, but I would draw readers’ attention to the activities of the Jefferson Council Honor Committee, whose members, including past UVa Honor Commitee members, are far better informed about honor-related issues than I.

The Honor Committee is one of the most engaged committees of the Jefferson Council. Among other activities, TJC Honor Committee Chair David Greenberg and colleagues met this summer with incoming UVa Honor Committee Chair Hamza Aziz and engaged in a productive conversation about the future of the Honor Code. It is encouraging to know that Aziz is open to input from grizzled (and some not-so-grizzled) alumni.

If anyone is interested in getting involved with the TJC Honor Commitee, feel free to contact Greenberg at david@davidgreenberglaw.com.

— JAB

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Posted in Honor code

Ryan Ignored Board of Visitors in Formulating Admissions Policy

Posted on August 8, 2023 by | 9 comments

Screen capture from UVa’s “Common Application” form. UVa no longer has a checkbox for race — but it does ask if applicants belong to a Virginia-recognized Indian tribe and if they identify as a “sexual minority.” The applications also invite applicants to share their “personal or historic connection with UVa,” including legacy status and descent from “ancestors who labored at UVa.”

by James A. Bacon

When University of Virginia President Jim Ryan and Provost Ian Baucom announced the university’s new admissions policy last week, they made a point of saying that they had sought input and guidance from “leaders across the university,” including members of the Office of University Counsel.

But one key group was not consulted: the Board of Visitors.

That’s noteworthy because state code says the Board of Visitors sets the university’s admissions policy.

Describing the powers and authorities of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), state code notes that the SCHEV shall prepare enrollment projections for Virginia’s public colleges and universities. However, “the student admissions policies for such institutions and their specific programs shall remain the sole responsibilities of the individual governing boards.”

Not university presidents — the governing boards. Continue reading →

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Posted in Admissions, Board of Visitors, Governance

Ellis Recognized for His UVa Work

Posted on August 5, 2023 by | 8 comments

The Common Sense Society, an international organization dedicated to championing liberty, prosperity and beauty, has awarded its Common Sense Courage Award to Bert Ellis, serial entrepreneur, president emeritus of The Jefferson Council, and member of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors.

“Bert has worked tirelessly to promote intellectual diversity in the face of a radical and intolerant ‘DEI’ agenda, to protect the UVA Lawn, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, against defacement, and to promote the UVA Honor System, which champions integrity and honesty in students,” stated the press release.

Common Sense cited the “unjustified smear campaign” unleashed against Ellis in local and national media.

“Bert has shown inspiring resolve against the anti-intellectual forces that are assaulting free speech and freedom of academic inquiry,” said CSS president and CEO Marion Smith. “He has pushed UVA to focus on teaching instead of indoctrinating, defended its beautiful and historic UVA Lawn, and stood resolute in the face of an unjustified smear campaign. We are happy to present Bert with the Common Sense Courage Award.” Continue reading →

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Racial Check Boxes Out at UVa Admissions. Racial Life Experiences In.

Posted on August 1, 2023 by | 10 comments

by James A. Bacon

The University of Virginia will eliminate the race/ethnicity checkbox on admissions applications but will allow students to describe how their “personal experiences” — including but not limited to race or ethnicity — “shaped their ability to contribute,” announced President Jim Ryan in an announcement emailed to the University community Monday.

The change in admissions policy represents Ryan’s first tangible response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling restricting the use of race as a factor in college admissions. Ryan had previously signaled his intention to “admit a class of students who are diverse across every possible dimension and to make every student feel welcome and included here at UVa.”

The tweaks to UVa’s admissions policy incorporated input from “leaders across the University,” including the Office of University Counsel, Ryan said.

Ryan’s announcement boiled down the changes to several bullet points: Continue reading →

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Posted in Admissions

Bettinger v. Ryan, Groves and UVa

Posted on August 1, 2023 by | 4 comments

The Jefferson Council has obtained a file-stamped copy of a lawsuit filed on behalf of Morgan Bettinger against University of Virginia President Jim Ryan, former Dean of Students Allen Groves, and the University of Virginia.

The allegations must be demonstrated in court. If proven true, they paint an unflattering picture of civil rights (for anyone of any race or color) at UVa. They certainly recount a horrifying tale of the abandonment and betrayal of Ms. Bettinger by the people whose very job was to protect her.

We will let the complaint speak for itself. Readers can draw their own conclusions. — JAB

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Tech to End Racial and Legacy Preferences in Admissions

Posted on August 1, 2023 by | 5 comments

I have cross-posted this article about Virginia Tech’s admissions policy from Bacon’s Rebellion. Tech is a peer institution, and its restatement of admissions policy sets an expectation that the University of Virginia should as well. The views expressed here are my own, not those of the Jefferson Council. — JAB

by James A. Bacon

In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Virginia Tech has announced that it will eliminate race and legacy status as factors in admissions. Information about an individual’s race/ethnicity will no longer be visible during the application process.

“Much of our recent success in attracting and graduating students from underrepresented minority and underserved backgrounds (including low-income, first generation and veteran students) has been achieved by lowering barriers to admissions, creating effective pre-college programs, and supporting our students while on campus,” said President Tim Sands. “We will increase our emphasis on those programs and support mechanisms going forward.”

These changes strike me as a reasonable compromise in response to the Supreme Court ruling. Dropping race and ethnicity as factors in admissions ends the invidious practice of explicit discrimination on the basis of race. It represents a huge defeat for “anti-racists” who believe that the only antidote to past discrimination against minorities is reverse discrimination in their favor.

Tech has coupled that decision with a formal end to favoring legacies. Given the fact that legacies are disproportionately White, the symbolic value is huge. Continue reading →

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Posted in Admissions, Race, Equity and Diversity

UVa Board Should Demand Transparency on Racial-Preference Initiatives

Posted on August 1, 2023 by | 1 comment

Last week Jefferson Council President Tom Neale sent the following letter to University of Virginia Rector Robert Hardie, members of the Board of Visitors, and selected UVa administrative officials. 

July 25, 2023

Dear Mr. Hardie:

I am the President of The Jefferson Council for the University of Virginia, and am writing you regarding what we believe to be an egregious contravention of academic governance by Provost Ian Baucom.

In a presentation to the Faculty Senate on October 11, 2022, Provost Baucom described between $20 and $40 million in initiatives to recruit graduate students and faculty from “under-represented” racial/ethnic groups. When describing these and other academic initiatives to the Board of Visitors in its March 2023 meeting, however, he never alluded to the scope of the programs, or the racial preferences embedded in them.

For most of the year, the U.S. Supreme Court was widely expected to issue a ruling restricting the use of race as a factor in college admissions. Mr. Baucom had been cognizant enough of the debatable legality of the programs to seek guidance from the University Counsel, yet he failed to mention these concerns – or the nature of the University Counsel’s guidance, if any — in his presentation to the Board. Continue reading →

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Posted in Admissions, Race, Equity and Diversity

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UVa Donations Skewed More Democratic Than Ever in 2022

Posted on July 26, 2023 by | 10 comments

Graphic credit: Daily Progress

by James A. Bacon

You’ve finally heard it from someone other than the Jefferson Council: Political donations by University of Virginia employees skew overwhelmingly to the left. In the 2022 election cycle, found Daily Progress reporter Luke Fountain, “UVa faculty and staff favored Democratic candidates over Republican candidates, based on donations, by a ratio of 30 to 1.”

“During the 2022 election cycle, Democratic candidates received 96.1% of donations, Republican candidates received 3.3% and Libertarian candidates received 0.6%,” writes Fountain in an article exploring the implications of a discussion during the June UVa Board of Visitors meeting regarding the desirability of tracking viewpoint diversity at the university.

Campaign donations are only one way of measuring viewpoint diversity. In 2018 the University of Virginia conducted an extensive survey of attitudes among students, faculty and staff that measured, among other things, respondents’ left-right political leanings. If it is impractical to conduct such an extensive and expensive survey every year, tracking political donations is a readily available proxy for attitude surveys. Continue reading →

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Posted in Intellectual diversity, Leftist orthodoxy

Hadley Departs UVa Without Explanation

Posted on July 22, 2023 by | 2 comments

Robyn Hadley. Photo credit: University of Virginia

Robyn Hadley, the University of Virginia’s dean of students, will leave her job effective Aug. 1, announced President Jim Ryan and Provost Ian Baucom yesterday in a letter to the university community.

The letter provided no explanation for Hadley’s sudden departure. Hadley had served two years in the position, which oversees 300 employees engaged with student life. She supervised key functions such as the Office of African-American affairs, the career center, student housing, student health, fraternity-sorority life, event planning, and facilities operations.

“Since she came to the University in the summer of 2021, Robyn has led Student Affairs with grace and determination, even in the face of enormous challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic and the tragic shootings of Nov. 13, 2022,” wrote Ryan and Baucom. “Through it all, she has demonstrated the professionalism, wisdom, and deep care for our students for which she will be remembered here at UVA. We are grateful to Robyn and her team for all they have achieved these past few years.”

The letter contained no statement from Hadley herself. Continue reading →

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Posted in Administration

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