Letter to the Editor

UVa. alumnus refutes column

To the Editor:

As an impressionable new professor here, you can imagine how horrified I was to discover that Ste Grainer speaks "for the majority of the student population," for whom "academics weren't the deciding factor" in choosing JMU in his March 14 column titled "College identity crisis: Mr. Madison's University."

As an alumnus of Mr. Jefferson's University, I can certainly confirm your impressions of its "snobbiness." During my time at UVa., the very few students I knew who left voluntarily without a degree were those who, like Grainer, interpreted its sometimes pretentious atmosphere as unfriendly.

However, I disagree with his claim that "We can't have both a friendly atmosphere and a scholarly prestigious atmosphere without a serious conflict of interest." Since when did scholarship and friendliness become mutually exclusive?

Indeed, what really defines UVa.'s unique identity is not pretense but a vigorous intellectual and social life. Likewise, Virginia Military Institute enjoys a uniquely robust military identity. UVa. and VMI alumni are fiercely loyal because of their institutions' distinctive identities. That's why they're two of the most heavily endowed public universities in the nation.

As a native Virginian, I've seen JMU struggling to redefine itself for the past two decades. As you suggest, I don't think we want to become another UVa. However, I challenge you to come up with a more substantial alternative than "JMU: The Friendly School."

Kurt Schick
writing program