Some dates—such as the birth of founder Thomas Jefferson and the fire that gutted the Rotunda—are part of legend and lore at U.Va. Others, though, are less known yet paint a more colorful picture of the University’s history. Here are 14 such dates—some curious, some notable—from the annals of U.Va., its students and others in the University community.
Jan. 18, 1800. Thomas Jefferson, then U.S. vice president, alludes to plans for a new college in a letter written to British scientist Joseph Priestley: “We wish to establish in the upper country of Virginia, and more centrally for the State, a University on a plan so broad and liberal and modern, as to be worth patronizing with the public support, and be a temptation to the youth of other States to come and drink of the cup of knowledge and fraternize with us.”
Edgar Allan PoeAlbert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
Feb. 14, 1826. Edgar Allan Poe enters U.Va. and chooses, as his course of study, the Schools of Ancient and Modern Languages. Poe lives in No. 13 West Range during his brief time at the University. Detractors claim Poe led a wild student life that resulted in his dismissal, but that is not the case. He left U.Va. in December 1826 because his foster father wouldn’t provide necessary funds for him to continue attending.
April 18, 1831. The Chameleon becomes the first student newspaper at the University of Virginia. Neither the Board of Visitors nor faculty members were wild about having a student-run newspaper, fearing that it would “impede the performance of duty and the purposes of a liberal education.” Now the role of student newspaper is served by the Cavalier Daily, which earlier this month elected its 123rd managing and junior boards.
Douglas Cooper
May 25, 1861. U.Va. alumnus Douglas Cooper is officially adopted as a member of the Chickasaw Nation. In 1861, the Confederate government sought Cooper’s help to secure the allegiance of the Indian tribes and he was commissioned a colonel of the 1st Choctaw and Chickasaw Mounted Rifles. He commanded Native American troops in several engagements, including Pea Ridge, where the Indians were falsely accused of scalping fallen Federal soldiers. After the war, Cooper prosecuted the claims of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes against the federal government over the infamous Indian removals.
June 29, 1868. The Ugly Club holds one of its annual celebrations. The Ugly Club’s contest was an enormously popular form of entertainment held at the University in its early years. The boisterous event held on the Lawn featured many clever speeches. Entrants vied for awards given to “the man with the homeliest countenance,” “the prettiest man,” “the smallest man,” and “the vainest man.” The prize for being the ugliest was a pair of boots.
Dean of Women Mary Whitney, 1969 Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
May 18, 1921. The Board of Visitors elects Adelaide Douglas Simpson as the University’s first dean of women at a salary of $2,500. Simpson, 29, held the office until April 1927. “From the very beginning, the University administration did not consider the dean of women equal to the male deans at U.Va. They expected her to focus on the development of leadership, social poise and integrity of female students and to be available to them for guidance and consolation,” reads a University website. The last woman to hold the position of dean of women was Mary Whitney, appointed in 1967. She challenged the University’s admissions policies and participated in the debates surrounding coeducation in the late 1960s.
John J. Moran at the possible site of Camp Lazear in Cuba Photo by Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
Feb. 28, 1929. John J. Moran, a University alumnus, is awarded the Walter Reed Medal by Congress for his role in helping prove that yellow fever was spread by mosquito bites and not by contact with infected clothes and bedding. Moran was the only civilian to participate for experiments conducted by Dr. Reed, also a University alumnus, and others at Camp Lazear in Cuba. Moran’s was the fourth case of yellow fever to develop from mosquito inoculation. He eventually settled in Cuba, where he managed the Havana offices of the Sun Oil Company. He and another American, Dr. Robert P. Cooke, lobbied the Cuban government to memorialize the work done at the camp.
James Rogers McConnell
April 20, 1916. Former U.Va. student James Rogers McConnell joins the newly formed American Escadrille (later redesignated the Lafayette Escadrille) at its base of operations in France. He is one of the first four of the seven original Escadrille pilots to arrive. McConnell was killed in aerial combat with two German planes, above the Somme battlefields, on March 19, 1917. He became the last American pilot of the squadron to die under French colors, before American entrance into the war in April 1917. The statue The Aviator now stands between Alderman and Clemons libraries in his memory. During his years at U.Va. (1907-10), McConnell held memberships in Beta Theta Pi, Theta Nu Epsilon, O.W.L., T.I.L.K.A. and the German Club. He also was editor-in-chief of Corks and Curls and assistant cheerleader.
Beta came in for treatment to his injured foot. Picture taken in the Hospital basement. Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
April 6, 1939. Beta, the University’s beloved dog, dies a day after being hit by a car on Rugby Road. An estimated 1,000 people attend the funeral. Dean Ivey Lewis gives the eulogy at the flower-covered gravesite. “There are many one-man dogs and many one-family dogs, but Beta was a whole university’s dog,” Lewis says. That turnout is eclipsed by the death of another University canine mascot, Seal, on Dec. 11, 1953. Approximately 1,500 people are in attendance when Seal is laid to rest next to Beta.
Oct. 11, 1947. Chester Pierce, a football player at Harvard University, becomes the first black athlete to play against Virginia in any sport. Virginia wins the game 47-0 in front of a crowd where the seating is segregated, but for the first time, the game is not. “It was a big deal,” Alan Stone, Pierce’s backup as a sophomore in 1947, said of the trip to Virginia: “We all respected [Pierce]. He was a very dignified fellow, and he was much more of a gentleman than anyone else on the team.” The Virginia game was Harvard’s first played in the South. The Crimson made the trip lacking four players who began the season as starters. One was senior end Robert F. Kennedy, lost after the opener when he broke a leg in practice.
Amos Leroy "Roy" Willis Photo by Dan Addison
Sept. 15, 1950. Gregory Swanson, the first African-American accepted for admission to the U.Va. Law School, registers for classes in graduate law study. In July 1951, after completing his first year, Swanson leaves the University “due to what he described as an overwhelming climate of racial hostility and harassment.” In 1953, Dr. Walter N. Ridley becomes the first African-American to receive a U.Va. degree, and in 1961, Amos Leroy “Roy” Willis becomes the first African-American to enroll in the College of Arts & Sciences. In 2010, a plaque is dedicated to Willis in honor of being the first African American student to live on the Lawn (he resided in West 43).
William Faulkner becomes writer-in-residence
Feb. 15, 1957. William Faulkner, 59, spends his first day as writer-in-residence at U.Va. Over the previous 34 years he had published 16 novels, five volumes of short stories and about a dozen other books. Earlier that month, a drinking spree in New York had landed him in the hospital for three days. During that spring semester, he publishes The Town and begins writing The Mansion.
Sept. 30, 1969. A three-judge federal court panel rules in favor of women who sued to become students at U.Va. The court orders University officials to present to the judge within a month a new plan for coeducation that admitted students regardless of their gender. Virginia “Ginger” Scott (Col ’73) thus became the first woman to enroll in the College and to graduate under the new plan. Scott was 19 at the time of her application.
Feb. 21, 1999. Women’s head basketball coach Debbie Ryan (Educ ’77) wins her 500th game with an 83-65 triumph over Florida State at University Hall, becoming only the sixth coach in Division 1 history to have that many wins at the same school. Ryan went on to win 739 games over a 34-year career before stepping down last March; she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Debbie Ryan
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December 31, 2011 UVA plays in a bowl sponsored by a corporation the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified as a hate group. Despite numerous attempts at contacting the President and the Board of Trustees, neither the administration nor the athletic department directly addresses Chick-Fil-A's corporate hate culture. UVA accepts a large donation from Chick-Fil-A thus tacitly accepting the restaurant chain's bigotry and turning its back on the University's Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered community.
February 16, 2012 Christopher Patzke attacks the good Christian folks at Chick-fil-A on the UVA Magazine website by falsely accusing that corporation of a 'corporate hate culture' based, presumably, on a franchisee's donations to a community event that later turned out to be only for male/female married couples. A search on the Southern Poverty Law Center's website for "Chick-fil-A" and other permutations, including the names of Chick-fil-A executives, shows no matches, which would undermine the claim that the company has been identified as a hate group; and even if the SPLC had done so, it would have been in good company, as an organization must merely advocate securing America's borders is on the SPLC's hate group list, so getting on that list is no real achievement. As a result, UVA Magazine then removes Patzke's slanderous comment.
Do your homework Gene. http://equalitymatters.org/factcheck/201111010001
THANK YOU FOR A HISTORY LESSON. WE ALL NEED HISTORY IN OUR LIVES. CONRAD POGORZELSKI ALUMNI, ASSOCIATE LIFE MEMBER
Just because the Southern Poverty Law Center labels you as a hate group does not make yopu a hate group. Christopher, there are going to be people in this country who legitimately disagree with the homosexual lifestyle. That does not make them haters. Many of the donations go to organizations that want to help marriage remain a social bulkhead of our society. That's not hate. You need to get over yourselves and stop claiming victimhood over every imagined slight. I disagree with the homosexual lifestyle but I love my gay brother. Does that make me a hater? No!
Christopher, thanks for the web reference. I have now done the homework you assigned, in addition to the homework I'd done beforehand (mine was a bit more illuminating, but I'm happy to have another view). So, an LGBT website (the one you referenced) has detailed its complaints against Chick-fil-A. Apparently, for the folks behind that website, contributing to groups promoting traditional marriage is deemed an act of hate. That's just another slander, and unfortunately it's a level of intolerance of differing views typical of such advocacy groups. "Hate" is what you're doing; yet you accuse others of hate, who are in fact innocent of it. "Hate" does not mean "opposing Christopher Patzke's world view". Indeed, harsh slander of opposing viewpoints is a lot closer to the definition of "hate". Nothing wrong with advocating change, including a change in the governmental definition of marriage, which seems to be your aim -- but let's do it from the basis of fact, not by slandering well-intentioned folks who hold a different view.
John I am sure many people who oppossed inter-racial marriages and agreed with Jim Crow laws expressed viewpoints very similar to the ones you express about gay civil rights. Bigotry is bigotry no matter how much it is wrapped in prayers or veiled as defense of marriage.
Gene while you may have done some research that was "a bit more illuminating" I wonder what that might be since you have provided no references or relative facts to support your claim that Chick-Fil-A is a benign organization. I think the fact check I provided speaks volumes. It is not a defense of marriage but a denial of civil rights that these groups promote behind a very thinly veiled attempt to promote marriage. That is not slander but fact. perhaps you should revisit the reference given and read it in its entirety...and don't be afraid to admit that you are bigoted. I understand.
Christopher, you've made you extremely intolerance of any opposing viewpoint, and your hate, very clear. I was hoping you'd engage in a civil discussion, but as with many of your ideological extremist mindset, apparently that's just not possible for you. Good luck.
OK Gene. Guess that means you have nothing to back up your posts. Thanks for helping me make my point. Cheers!
Chris, we were talking about sexual orientation, weren't we?
I'll try again. Supporting marriage given the disrepair the institution has fallen into is not hate. Marriage has been shown in many studies to be the bedrock on which a successful society is based. Children with two parents are far more likely to prosper than a child with a single parent. We have tried the "do anything you want" way for about 40 to 50 years now, and it has done enormous damage especially to those of lower socioeconimic status. You'll note that nowhere in the above did I mention sexual orientation. Devoted homosexual parents can do the same, but as a society, we have been reluctant to embrace homosexual marriage. In my opinion, this is not hate, but it stems from the fact that most people cannot put a face on homosexual marriage until someone near them comes out. I think the day will come, but screaming victimhood at every slight real or imagined doesn't help. Society doesn't hate yoy Chris, they just don't quite understand you yet. Yes, a small portion will hate, but when you always scream hate it's hard to take you seriously. Since you brought up interracial marriage, many are against that for the sake of the children of such unions, who have been spurned by both groups. Yes, some are haters, but there are more thoughtful people than you give credit for. Please take a deep breath and continue working for understanding - society isn't perfect and neither are you and I.
Chris -- I won't take your bait, except to point out that in my original post I did in fact back up my argument with a search of the SPLC website -- which was *your* source. So you should be fully satisfied with my backing up my claims since I used YOUR OWN SOURCE to dispute *your* claim. Meanwhile, (there's a pattern emerging here) you've produced no credible sources at all -- just your own interest group's website -- which is hardly authoritative. Quoting your own interest group is no different than quoting yourself to back up your argument -- that is, meaningless. So, once again, you are doing what you falsely accuse others of doing (first it was "hate", now it's failure to quote sources). Finally, may I ask that you avoid the use of the ad hominem fallacy in your responses.
With all due respect to Christopher, Gene, and John and their significant topic of discussion, I simply wanted to say I enjoyed the "handful of curious and notable dates in U.Va. history" and hope to see more in the future. Both the article and ensuing tangential discussion were quite entertaining.
It's funny a bigot will NEVER admit that they are a bigot. They hide behind language that says "I am defending tradition." This is a civil rights issue. It's about fundamental issues of identity and those whose mind can not make space for others...whether they are black...or Jewish...or immigrants...or gays. It' all the same really. There are those who will go home and say I am not racist, my best friends are black. I am not anti-Semetic, my best friends are Jewish...I am not homophobic my brother is gay. They're all the same ilk. Of course a marginalized minority will seek out the truth and support it with documented facts. Of course bigots will hide behind bending the truth. It's the same mentality that made grown men hide behind sheets. We can see you in modern times...and you can not hide your bigotry. We will call you out and hold you accountable and you can not bend the truth. As a Christian I am there with you in church and I can look at you in the face and say to you Christ NEVER said a single word about homosexuals. You are wrong and you will be on the wrong side of history.
Gene I was just thinking you might appreciate a quote from the Saviour of the World or the Constitution regarding same sex relationships: "......" OK well there's that.
I too found the list of events and dates very interesting and would enjoy further similar articles. I found the blurb on Debbie Ryan most enlightening as I have always admired her achievements and am so proud of the well deserved recognition she has received.
With respect to everyone on both side of this little debate going on, I'd just like to say that homosexuality isn't a "lifestyle." It's a classification of one's sexual orientation. Also, there are legitimate reasons to oppose our involvement in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl this past year if you believe that the right to marry the one they love is a right that is due all people, regardless of sexual orientation, due to the fact that Chick-Fil-A does donate to organizations which adamantly oppose this right. However, getting snippy with each other isn't going to make anyone happy, or convince anyone to change their minds. And neither is commenting on a random article.
That being said, this article is fantastic, keep up the good work.
This all reminds me of a comment I heard a little while ago from an alumna of a prestigious New England school: "I hate Southerners, because they are all bigots."
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