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Letters to the Editor: Summer 2023

Tragedy Strikes UVA

Virginia Magazine Spring 2023 cover

Count me among those who are thankful and very much appreciative of how the events of Nov. 13 were covered in the latest magazine. I thought the cover was very well done with the black background with poignant words in reverse print. That art on the cover captured the flurry of terrible news and the surreal nature of the words that stuck out as the night unfolded. In the magazine, I appreciated one of the first things being the explanation of how the staff went about the task of preparing the information. Thank goodness there were no intrusive interviews conducted. I am from the College Class of 1984 and have been fortunate to work at UVA most of the years in between. I have the perspective of someone who was on Grounds in the hours after it happened. Even with my close proximity, I found the timeline and articles helpful in what will be a long process of putting the horrifying events into perspective. Recently I spoke with a friend from the College Class of 1985. She hasn’t been on Grounds in decades and lives on the West Coast. She told me how much she appreciated the coverage, especially when having to process it from so far away. She felt she got her first inkling of understanding what happened, also citing the timeline and the approach. We will try to move forward together. Thank you for the magazine’s part in that long journey.

Rebecca White (Col ’84)
Crozet, Virginia

 

When the spring issue of Virginia Magazine arrived in my mailbox, I glanced at the coverage of the events of last Nov. 13 and put the magazine aside until I had a quiet evening to read it. I know from experience that touching grief, scratching at a painful memory, can sometimes bring consolation, even a measure of healing. I hoped for the same from the magazine. 

But when that quiet evening came, I honestly found the stories difficult to read. I felt I owed it to Lavel, Devin, and D’Sean to read every word, but as I progressed through the coverage—of that night on the bus, of the following days on Grounds, of the mourning expressed around the country—I kept having to pause and look up, to look away. The wound was still too raw to touch, much less to scratch. 

D’Sean, Devin, and Lavel were denied the long, full lives they deserved. I’m not sure if we deserved your lengthy, heartbreaking coverage, but thank you for every word of it. You articulated the depth of loss that so many of us will feel for years to come.

Mike Moriarty (Grad ’91)
Charlottesville

 

It’s not often an alumni magazine brings tears to your eyes. Yesterday morning, as I leafed through all the familiar images, flowers, memorials, candlelight vigils, and the beautiful faces of lives cut short, I realized it was the 2-year anniversary of the Table Mesa supermarket shooting just three blocks away from our home here in Boulder. What is it about the words “a well-regulated militia” that Second Amendment “purists” don’t understand?

Evan Cantor (Col ’78)
Boulder, Colorado

 

In the aftermath of the mass murder of children and their unarmed protectors in Nashville and the sickening response by Gov. Lee, I’d like to suggest that the overused word “tragedy” may be insufficient for describing a mass shooting. While mass murder is certainly tragic as it refers to a dramatic event or situation characterized by sorrow and loss, the word “tragedy” may not accurately capture this crime’s intentional and premeditated nature. It suggests a sense of inevitability or fate that may not accurately reflect the nature of mass shootings. 

Mass shootings are not natural disasters or unavoidable events. They typically involve the deliberate killing of a large number (three or more) of people, often with a specific motive or agenda. This kind of violence is not a random act or unfortunate experience. It is a deliberate and calculated act of aggression.

I would like to offer that it may be more accurate to describe mass murder as an atrocity, a crime, or a massacre, rather than a “tragedy.” These words better describe the gravity and sense of intentional harm and wrongdoing inherent in such an act.

Frank (Trip) Butler (Arch ’82)
Littleton, Colorado

 

A quick note to say thank you and congrats on a tough but terrific issue of the magazine. I picked it up to read one day a week or so ago and had no idea how hard it was going to hit me. I guess like many alumni I had sort of processed the tragedy and moved on. Wow, it was so emotional to relive those few days and the aftermath. So terrible for those young men and their families and friends. Great job to you and your team.

Carter Hoerr (Col ’79)
Charlottesville

 

My wife is a UVA alumna, so we get the magazine. As a photographer I’ve worked with terrific editorial designers and graphic designers, folks like DJ Stout and Lana Rigsby. 

I think the cover for the Spring 2023 issue of Virginia Magazine is one of the best. It’s right up there with the deep-gray-against-black New Yorker cover after the attacks on Sept. 11. 

Ellis Vener
Atlanta, Georgia


From the Editor: A Magazine Approach to Covering Tragedy

I just wanted to write and let you know how wonderful it felt to open my alumni magazine today and read your piece with glowing mentions of my father, Champ Clark. My father was certainly a journalist of the old school, but he loved his days teaching at UVA probably as much as he did covering and editing stories for Time magazine. I know he had quite a reputation at UVA—wasn’t always sure exactly what it was! I did take his class myself in 1977 and received a “solid B” for my efforts. Good ol’ Dad. I shared your piece with all of his grandchildren this morning, as well as my brother and sister. Thank you for your words. My father would be very happy to know his efforts as a teacher took hold.

Julia Clark Salmon (Col ’80)
Bend, Oregon

 

I just wanted to say how much I appreciated the tribute to Champ Clark in Virginia Magazine. I sometimes feel a little sheepish that the two classes at UVA that meant the most to me were a pair of journalism classes taught by non-tenured lecturers at a college with no journalism program, but I still feel like everything I know about writing came from Champ Clark and Jonathan Coleman (a TV and publishing veteran who helped launch many careers with the nonfiction writing seminar he taught for seven years). I’m always half surprised when anyone else mentions Clark’s name; despite his illustrious journalism career, he really felt like a best-kept secret. 

The entire issue was great. You found just the right approach for a complicated topic, consistent with the magazine’s creativity and serious reporting of the past several years.

Amy Argetsinger (Col ’90)
Washington, D.C.

 

Congratulations on another great issue and for handling a very delicate, tragic situation with aplomb. Champ Clark would have given you a solid A. I did an independent study with Champ my fourth year, when I was a student assistant in the sports information office and manager of the men’s basketball team. Having him work on my prose was like having Jeff Lamp work on my shot (which he did). My writing improved, Champ got to hear lots of inside scoop, and I got an A.

Thomas M. Baker (Col ’79)
Kilmarnock, Virginia

 

Thank you, both for the story and the great fun of recalling my chain-smoking mentor Champ Clark.

Mary Lisa Gavenas (Col ’78)
Andover, Massachusetts


What is the most spectacularly foolish thing you did on Grounds? [Time Capsule]

I’m writing with serious concerns over two recent “Time Capsule” items glamorizing “hanging out” near railroad tracks and trains—a photo in the Winter 2022 issue, illustrating a graduate’s favorite hideout on Grounds highlighting “chilling on the train tracks with friends” and in the Spring 2023 issue, a graduate’s memory of trespassing on train tracks and crawling under a stopped train while taking a shortcut to campus as the most “spectacularly foolish thing” they did on Grounds.

Innocuous and nostalgic as these memories and images may appear, in reality sharing stories like these promotes dangerous—and illegal—trespassing as well as romanticizes and implicitly condones these risky actions both for your alumni and current students.

Every three hours in the U.S., a person or vehicle is hit by a train. More than 1,000 Americans are killed or injured trespassing on tracks each year. The mission of my organization, Operation Lifesaver Inc., is to end preventable rail-related incidents, deaths and injuries around railroad tracks and trains. College students, especially at universities that have railroad tracks running through or near campus, are a key audience for our rail safety education efforts.

I urge you to pull the photo from the online version of the Winter ’22 issue, refrain from highlighting these activities in future issues, and educate your students and alumni about the importance of making safe choices around railroad tracks and trains.

Jennifer DeAngelis
Operation Lifesaver Inc.


Living Honor [Alumni Association]

On behalf of the Board of Visitors, I write to thank the Alumni Association’s Board of Managers and President and CEO Lily West for answering our call to engage in a project intended to reinvigorate awareness among the student body about the value of our Honor System, the most treasured tradition of student self-governance at the University. In a letter President Ryan and I sent in December 2021, we suggested that the Alumni Association—which manages the Honor Endowment—create an Honor orientation video. The Association did far more than that.

Your Living Honor program consisted of not only a series of videos and a website but also provided a forum to discuss the ideals of Honor in UVA life and the life that follows graduation. Your engagement of alumni with students and the emphasis on how the value of ethics, integrity and community trust extend beyond college in our personal and professional lives came at a critical time. In less than a year, Living Honor has been incorporated into numerous treasured events, including Convocation, Third Year Ring Ceremony and Reunions, just to name a few.  

Due to the strong leadership of Gabrielle Bray, chair of the Honor Committee, and the work of her committee and student delegates to a convention, and assisted by the heightened discussions led by the Association, the student body by an overwhelming vote this past March reversed action taken the previous year by restoring expulsion as a sanction for the most aggravated Honor violations, while maintaining other reforms that were put into place the previous year.  

Your efforts helped the Board of Visitors and President Ryan balance our responsibility to protect the Honor System with the imperative to respect UVA’s tradition of student self-governance. You facilitated our work with student leaders by helping them understand the history and importance of Honor and the responsibility to protect this essential UVA value. At an important time, you reminded us that Honor is deeply personal, community strengthening and alive on Grounds. For that, the Board is most grateful. 

Whittington W. Clement (Col ’70, Law ’74), UVA Rector
Richmond, Virginia


Students Restore Expulsion to Honor [Online]

This is a much better solution. Kudos to the students who recognized that expulsion from a university is a very reasonable consequence for many types of Honor offenses. In the professional setting after graduation, dishonesty can carry significantly steeper consequences.

Dasha Tyshlek (Engr ’15)
St. Johns, Florida


It's Not Easy Being Dean [Winter 2022]

Collage of UVA deans
From top: B.F.D. Runk, Robyn S. Hadley, Robert Canevari, and Penny Rue Illustration by Eleanor Shakespeare; photos courtesy Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, UVA

I read with great interest your article on the various deans of students at the University through the years. I am writing to let you know that Mr. Runk was not the only dean of students hanged in effigy. In the fall of 1982, I believe, after Dean Canevari had announced that the 1983 Easters celebration would be canceled, I led several Phi Sigma Kappa brothers in hanging Mr. Canevari in effigy from a tree near the sidewalk on the southwest side of the Lawn. I think it was a Monday night after our regular fraternity meeting. We ran away after doing so, thinking we had done something memorable. Alas, a group of Newcomb Hall maintenance men soon found out about it early the next day, quickly cut it down, and there was only a passing mention in The Declaration magazine (published every Thursday) a few days later. A few years later, I befriended one of those maintenance men who told me how dumb the stunt was, once he found out who did it. The cancellation of Easters continued unchecked despite our best efforts.

Thomas L. Varner Jr. (Col ’84, Engr ’88)
Dinwiddie, Virginia