UVA Student Environment

danidebold · 03-18-2006, 08:28 PM

I visited UVA last June and I fell in love with the grounds. The people I met were very friendly and welcoming. However, I feel like I wasn't able to really get a good grasp of the nature of the student body when I visited. I come from a private all-girls Catholic school in the Bay Area (California) and I don't know if I would "fit-in" at UVA.

Naturally, where I live is extremely liberal so I know that making the change from my current environment to Charlottesville, VA will be pretty drastic. I would like people who are pretty familar with student life and the student body at UVA to respond to this post and tell me how they would classify the general environment of Charlottesville and the attitudes of the people who attend UVA. Your input might help me make my decision because I am currently debating if I want to go to VA for college.

Thanks.

tenniscraze · 03-19-2006, 02:31 AM

I am also a liberal and I had to adjust to the southern environment in UVA. It might seem hard at first with a lot of the conservative people you meet here, as well as frat guys and sororitutes. But, really, it depends on whom you want to spend your time hanging out with. My group of friends are liberal, so in that regard, the environment is becoming increasingly more comfortable to me. I've come to learn that there is actually a bunch of liberal students on this campus despite the conservative, southern setting.

jags86 · 03-19-2006, 03:07 PM

i went to an all boys catholic school - which happened to be pretty liberal - and i never had a hard time adjusting. I think the whole "uva is in the south its conservative" argument is stupid. Ive generally found that most students are not politically active - and the few that are are generally liberal. If you want to classify the greek system as conservative, you can definately say that. But i can say that, at least in my frat and the people i know in other frats, we're much more concerned about boozing then we are about talking politics.

Untilted · 03-19-2006, 09:48 PM

which fraternity are you in, Jags?

sv3a · 03-19-2006, 10:19 PM

At least half the students at UVA are liberal, probably more. The only place conservatives can be seen in concentrated numbers is the frat system. Most of the media outlets, obviously, are liberal, including the school newspaper. Still, very few people at uva actually care, and are more into other things like working and partying than worrying about whether or not liberalism/conservatism is pervading among them. It's not like northeastern schools where you're affronted with their ideology, so don't worry about it here.

elgordo · 03-20-2006, 05:07 AM

I have lived for over five years in both San Francisco and Charlottesville. In terms of diversity in political thought, Charlottesville is far and away a more diverse and accepting place than the Bay area. It would be good for you to come to Virginia and take in some differing opinions.

cavalier302 · 03-21-2006, 01:30 AM

The student body here tends to be diverse and accepting of varying political views. UVA is more southern than, say, Cornell, but it's not something that anyone should have a hard time adjusting to. It's not rednecky and it doesn't fit any of the distorted stereotypes of "the south" that lots of CC'ers seem to have.

Some people seem to make a big deal about the political leanings of their friends. Personally, I have friends and acquaintances from both ends of the political spectrum. Tenniscraze seems to think that most people here are very conservative, with which I would heartily disagree. There are more conservatives at UVA than there are at a lot of other top schools, but there are many more liberals than conservatives in the student body, administration, and faculty.

The point is, if you want to carouse with a bunch of hipster libs or blue haired protesters, UVA might not be the place to go. If you feel comfortable around people who have a wide variety of viewpoints, but don't feel the need to shove them in your face all the time, UVA's a great place to be. People here seem to be much more concerned with the important things in life: academics, social interactions, enjoying their youth, etc. In short, it's a great place to be.

Globalist · 03-25-2006, 01:05 PM

UVa is in no way as conservative as it used to be. I think the breakdown is pretty 50/50. I surmise that because UVa tends to attract the more affluent that people perceive it is conservative. Well, the Kennedy's are liberal, and they attended UVa.

Plus, UVa is much more diverse in all aspects these days. UVa is large enough for you to find people of all racial, ethnic, religious, geographic, political and economic backgrounds - even more so recently with the University covering the cost of attendance for low-income kids.

qx3kbenzene · 03-25-2006, 01:27 PM

I was/am part of three large organizations on campus (Jeff Lit and Debating Society, the Cavalier Daily, and Honor Committee).

After four years, I can tell you that UVa is not openminded.

It is a school that lacks a Science section to the newspaper, have people who believe that traditional outweighs situational biased when expelling amazing students, and have really smart but extremely provincial students who believe that there should be a White-Students only CIO because minority students have too much of an advantage.

In short, if you are liberal and like science, don't come here. Most people think that third world countries can only cook, science is useless, and that is is certainly more important to wear that pearl neck than to ask out-of-the-box questions.

qx3kbenzene · 03-25-2006, 02:05 PM

While the average student at UVa may be pleasant and studious, there have been many racial incidents since I've been here. These are caused by a small minority of bigots but I want to point them out so you can better decided.

Just a few examples:

A few years back, during elections time, an african american/asian girl was running for president of student council. The night before the results came out, someone approached her as she was getting into her car, banged her head against the steering wheel and said to her: A n-ger shouldn't be president.

When an african american girl was selected to live in a room on the lawn (a high privilege that is only achievable in your fourth year), some people vandalized her possessions with harsh racial terms.

----------

Of course, things like this can happen at any big school.

And you can certainly find a niche of friends at any school large enough to encompass high enough of a standard deviation on the general distribution of personalities.

Good luck w/ your decision,

.

cavalier302 · 03-25-2006, 02:55 PM

qx3kbenzene's opinions are clearly a bit more biased and off the mark than those of the general student population at UVA. He seems to focus on the negative aspects of a wonderful university, and doesn't seem to realize that many, many top universities are far less "openminded" or "tolerant" than UVA is.

Bklyn2Cornell · 03-25-2006, 03:10 PM

Please elaborate cavalier. How is UVA "openminded" and tolerant"? And how are other top universities less so? Which ones are you aware of?

Globalist · 03-25-2006, 03:13 PM

Qx3kbenzene,

Wow, you're making huge blanket statements. I went to UVa in the 90's as an out liberal minority student (when UVa was more conservative), and I graduated not only loving UVa but meeting friends of all political stripes (from liberal and conservative die-hard Christians to gay Republicans to leftist NOW adherents) who were surprisingly open-minded and are still my friends today.

Perhaps you should hang w/ a different crowd.

Yes, UVa has had some recent isolated racial incidents, but as I mentioned in a previous post, such actions occur in campuses across the nation including Ivy League schools like Columbia in the very multi-culti city of New York:
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vne...9?in_archive=1

The reason why UVa had gotten all that attention is because the entire school acted energetically and transparently against racism - meaning instead of trying to railroad or conceal anything that might damage UVA's image, the University community instead stood up and made public the incidents as well as its outrage - from rallies & vigils, to President Casteen making a video decrying all intolerance, to student organizations and the Faculty Senate making public declarations of condemnation, to the Alumni Association offering money to bring the culprits to justice, to students painting Beta Bridge, wearing black t-shirts instead of orange ones at football games as well as wearing black ribbons around Grounds - ALL THIS - to say that racism has no place at UVa.

Yes, many people decried what happened at UVa, but they also praised the University and its students and alums for their quick and determined response against racism.

Personally, I don't mind being at a school where people believe things differently from me. That's what a university is for - to bring together various and sometimes opposing ideas, thoughts, and philosophies as well as their adherents, so that we can all learn from them.

If everyone around me believes and knows what I know, then what have I learned?

qx3kbenzene · 03-25-2006, 03:29 PM

I agree. I am baised. But that is the purpose of these posts. When you ask enough people to reflect on their individual experiences, you then can get an general picture.

I'm not wrong. I'm simply retelling my experiences. You may have had different experiences from me.

The thing is, UVa is an excellent school, but it's not for everyone. In order to best decide whether or not it is a good fit, I think it's a good idea to hear negative as well as positive perspectives.

Cavalier, I'm a girl. You can refer to me as "she."

cavalier302 · 03-25-2006, 03:30 PM

Bklyn2cornell: what separates UVA from other top schools is that people here are generally open to viewpoints from across the political spectrum, not just those from the left. When problems like the racist incidents occurred, the student body rose up to stand against them, rather than ignoring them or having the administration sweep them away. If you think problems like those don't ever occur at other top universities, you're mistaken. However, keep in mind that the isolated incidents that have occurred here are in no way indicative of what day-to-day life is like.

qx3kbenzene: sorry about the confusion. English doesn't provide for a gender-neutral pronoun (the way french has "on," for example) so I usually just use "he," the same way some english teacher years ago told me to.