Building Community at UVA

At the 20 year reunion, I had a conversation with someone regarding whether he would have chosen to attend another, smaller undergraduate institution.  We discussed how people who were not rich,  not affiliated with the Greek system, not Protestant or not mainstream American fit into the landscape of UVA.  He had expressed similar issues of marginality that many African American, even the ones who were wealthy and protestant faced. 

Our UVA experiences were five years apart.  I shared with him that in terms of building community and trying to create a small college feel at a sizable institution, UVa pulls out all the stops.  Community building begins with dorm life (now called residence halls) to academic clusters beginning with the first year. Of course there were bumps along the road, but as a student and now with 18 years of university administration under my belt, I think UVA has worked to capture all of its populations.   From first year seminars, to residential colleges, and special houses,  UVA has tried to provide the same college experience for everyone.  Now my perspective may or may not be shared by everyone.  I happened to get involved with efforts to try to improve the experience of the atypical UVA student. 

Many of the characteristics that I listed above may or may not be true of UVA today.  I have to admit that by having a sister that is 15 years younger and attending reunions, I got to see many of the changes that were a direct result of strategies put in place in the late ’80’s.  By the time she graduated, she commented that she thought UVA was a magical place.  Now of course UVA isn’t perfect.

When I return to reunions and listen to the experiences of classmates, I realize I did not participate in many of the mainstream activities.  I really didn’t even participate within the mainstream of my ethnic group.  At the time that I was a student at UVA, it seemed ultraconservative and despite a 60% out of state population, celebrations of the old south were common. I had lived in the south for six years by the time I attended UVA, but I had never seen a slave plantation.  The whole idea of Monticello and living close to and maybe even on top of a slave graveyard was sometimes distracting.   However, I found a niche that continues to influence my life more than 20 years later.

So what makes UVA magical for some of us who don’t participate in the traditional or even stereotypical UVA experiences?  To be continued…