This was really unsettling for me read. Proximity to the most white people is the one criteria that made the difference in where the University's location was chosen. If Charlottesville hadn't been most central to the white population of Virginia, UVa would be located in Lexington or in Staunton. Its definitely not a good thing that our school was centered around pleasing only the white race before our grounds were even built. I can't imagine how different our grounds would be and our university if another place had been more convenient for white people. UVa certainly has a racist past and I think most of us, if not all, are aware of that but I still couldn't believe that such a racist criteria is the reason the school exists where it does today and is the way Uva is today.

• Becca Meaney

This sentence kind of stuck out to me. I thought it was very Jeffersonian. When creating the US Constitution, Jefferson wanted the people to revise it every 19 years, so each generation could change aspects of the government according to their time. He brought the idea of changing institutions to better fit generations to his university, because he could not make it work in his country. The commissioners put their faith in the future generations, hoping that the university will keep the same basic principles through a changing world. -Tessa

This University was founded by one of the "fathers", at a time when the revolution was not the country's history, but part of one's personal past. The ideals of the founding fathers were ingrained in the people at this time, so it makes perfect sense that the commissioners would want to align themselves with their ideas of liberty and equality. However the word choice is kind of strange. The way it's worded makes it seem as if the commissioners had not purposefully aligned themselves with the founders, their university would not survive. This university seems to have been founded with great consideration to the government- not how one may want it to be. If a university and government are tied together, how can things change and progress? -Tessa