UVA's Bicentennial Stories initiative from WTJU 91.1 FM tells our collective story. It helps us understand our shared history and make meaning in the University today. And as we look ahead, these stories help us shape the future of the University and our role in a democratic society.

Teresa Sullivan, 8th President of UVA, 2010-2018

“I think it’s important that the university regulate the time, speech, and manner in which the speech occurs, but not what is actually said.

“On the other hand, as an academic, we have a pretty thoroughgoing commitment to truth. When somebody says, ‘White supremacy should be the policy of the land,’ we also have the right to say, ‘No, that’s not true.’

“You have to be able to respond to what is objectionable, and if you cower and say we won’t allow them to say it because we’re afraid, you’re kind of conceding that you don’t think you have the high ground in the debate. I do not think that the people who were in the rally here last year have the high ground in the debate.”

UVA's Bicentennial Stories initiative from WTJU 91.1 FM tells our collective story. It helps us understand our shared history and make meaning in the University today. And as we look ahead, these stories help us shape the future of the University and our role in a democratic society.

Teresa Sullivan, 8th President of UVA, 2010-2018

“I think it’s important that the university regulate the time, speech, and manner in which the speech occurs, but not what is actually said.

“On the other hand, as an academic, we have a pretty thoroughgoing commitment to truth. When somebody says, ‘White supremacy should be the policy of the land,’ we also have the right to say, ‘No, that’s not true.’

“You have to be able to respond to what is objectionable, and if you cower and say we won’t allow them to say it because we’re afraid, you’re kind of conceding that you don’t think you have the high ground in the debate. I do not think that the people who were in the rally here last year have the high ground in the debate.”

UVA's Bicentennial Stories initiative from WTJU 91.1 FM tells our collective story. It helps us understand our shared history and make meaning in the University today. And as we look ahead, these stories help us shape the future of the University and our role in a democratic society.

Teresa Sullivan, 8th President of UVA, 2010-2018

“So when I got here I was told, ‘We have never been successful in raising scholarship money for students. Our alumni and donors just won’t give money for that.’

“I didn’t believe that was true and we kept working on it. Two years ago, the Board of Visitors set aside $100 million from the Strategic Investment Fund to match endowment money given to the university. We projected it would take five years before that money was gone. It was gone in fifteen months.

“So now we have a large, new endowment totally devoted to scholarships. I feel very good about that. I think it helps us be competitive for the best students to attend the university.”

UVA's Bicentennial Stories initiative from WTJU 91.1 FM tells our collective story. It helps us understand our shared history and make meaning in the University today. And as we look ahead, these stories help us shape the future of the University and our role in a democratic society.

Teresa Sullivan, 8th President of UVA, 2010-2018

“So when I got here I was told, ‘We have never been successful in raising scholarship money for students. Our alumni and donors just won’t give money for that.’

“I didn’t believe that was true and we kept working on it. Two years ago, the Board of Visitors set aside $100 million from the Strategic Investment Fund to match endowment money given to the university. We projected it would take five years before that money was gone. It was gone in fifteen months.

“So now we have a large, new endowment totally devoted to scholarships. I feel very good about that. I think it helps us be competitive for the best students to attend the university.”

UVA's Bicentennial Stories initiative from WTJU 91.1 FM tells our collective story. It helps us understand our shared history and make meaning in the University today. And as we look ahead, these stories help us shape the future of the University and our role in a democratic society.

Jim Childress, Professor Emeritus, and Former Director of the Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life

Childress: “Brown College, I was offered the position of Principal and enjoyed it for three years very, very much.”

Interviewer: “And you actually lived in the Monroe House?”

Childress: “Um-hmm.”

Interviewer: “What was that like to live there?”

Childress: “We were troubled a lot on the 2nd floor where our bedrooms were with squirrels in the attic. Noisy squirrels in the attic. A lot of them.

And there was a pacifist groundskeeper whose solution to this was to put wall-to-wall carpeting in the attic so the squirrels could play and run and not make noise.

Interviewer: “Did that work?”

Childress: “It did, at least for that purpose. I’m not sure whether it worked overall for later residents. But it was still a lovely setting to be in and we enjoyed being there.”

UVA's Bicentennial Stories initiative from WTJU 91.1 FM tells our collective story. It helps us understand our shared history and make meaning in the University today. And as we look ahead, these stories help us shape the future of the University and our role in a democratic society.

Jim Childress, Professor Emeritus, and Former Director of the Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life

Childress: “Brown College, I was offered the position of Principal and enjoyed it for three years very, very much.”

Interviewer: “And you actually lived in the Monroe House?”

Childress: “Um-hmm.”

Interviewer: “What was that like to live there?”

Childress: “We were troubled a lot on the 2nd floor where our bedrooms were with squirrels in the attic. Noisy squirrels in the attic. A lot of them.

And there was a pacifist groundskeeper whose solution to this was to put wall-to-wall carpeting in the attic so the squirrels could play and run and not make noise.

Interviewer: “Did that work?”

Childress: “It did, at least for that purpose. I’m not sure whether it worked overall for later residents. But it was still a lovely setting to be in and we enjoyed being there.”

UVA's Bicentennial Stories initiative from WTJU 91.1 FM tells our collective story. It helps us understand our shared history and make meaning in the University today. And as we look ahead, these stories help us shape the future of the University and our role in a democratic society.

Marcia Day Childress, Associate Professor of Medical Education, and Director of Humanities Programs in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities in the School of Medicine

“When I was chair of the Faculty Senate, there would be a few meetings a year of the Faculty Senate of Virginia, which is all the faculty senates from all the schools, including the community college system.

“I was stunned at the limited resources available to many of the other schools in the state. UVa looked like its coffers were overflowing in settings like that.

“So we may spend a lot of time whining about our budget cuts and things like this, but we actually have a lot, and I would like to see us do as much as we possibly can with what we have, and not just for inside the university, but for the community. It’s really quite an opportunity and a privilege.”

UVA's Bicentennial Stories initiative from WTJU 91.1 FM tells our collective story. It helps us understand our shared history and make meaning in the University today. And as we look ahead, these stories help us shape the future of the University and our role in a democratic society.

Marcia Day Childress, Associate Professor of Medical Education, and Director of Humanities Programs in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities in the School of Medicine

“When I was chair of the Faculty Senate, there would be a few meetings a year of the Faculty Senate of Virginia, which is all the faculty senates from all the schools, including the community college system.

“I was stunned at the limited resources available to many of the other schools in the state. UVa looked like its coffers were overflowing in settings like that.

“So we may spend a lot of time whining about our budget cuts and things like this, but we actually have a lot, and I would like to see us do as much as we possibly can with what we have, and not just for inside the university, but for the community. It’s really quite an opportunity and a privilege.”

UVA's Bicentennial Stories initiative from WTJU 91.1 FM tells our collective story. It helps us understand our shared history and make meaning in the University today. And as we look ahead, these stories help us shape the future of the University and our role in a democratic society.

Marcia Day Childress, Associate Professor of Medical Education, and Director of Humanities Programs in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities in the School of Medicine

“The thing that made me apply was that of all the schools I was applying to, only UVa did not charge a fee to submit an application, so I thought, ‘no big deal.’

“I was thinking about graduate study in literature. I was an English major at Michigan State. Two of my professors said, ‘You should apply to the University of Virginia.’ I had never heard of the University of Virginia, and they turned me down.

“I was sort of more intrigued with UVa because of the snub. I went to those professors and said, ‘Can you figure out what’s going on?’ And the UVa professors they were talking to said, ‘You know, if she really wants to come, sure.’ So I chose to come here.”

UVA's Bicentennial Stories initiative from WTJU 91.1 FM tells our collective story. It helps us understand our shared history and make meaning in the University today. And as we look ahead, these stories help us shape the future of the University and our role in a democratic society.

Marcia Day Childress, Associate Professor of Medical Education, and Director of Humanities Programs in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities in the School of Medicine

“The thing that made me apply was that of all the schools I was applying to, only UVa did not charge a fee to submit an application, so I thought, ‘no big deal.’

“I was thinking about graduate study in literature. I was an English major at Michigan State. Two of my professors said, ‘You should apply to the University of Virginia.’ I had never heard of the University of Virginia, and they turned me down.

“I was sort of more intrigued with UVa because of the snub. I went to those professors and said, ‘Can you figure out what’s going on?’ And the UVa professors they were talking to said, ‘You know, if she really wants to come, sure.’ So I chose to come here.”