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 alone encompasses the controversy on racism that has plagued the University of Virginia 'til this day. The fact that the location for which these grounds were built upon was chosen solely based on the "...degree of centrality to the white population..." (meaning the most profitable and nurturing location for white people to flourish, with no regards toward people of color) emphasizes the 19th century's view of racial superiority and the founders' initial intent for inequality. This single sentence painfully and unmistakably claims that this university was founded entirely for the advancement of the white population, and no one else. Today, as Charlottesville, and the University of Virginia, proudly thrives on its growing diversity, this sentence also alludes to some irony.

I think it is interesting (and a little nauseating) in how this is what an impartial and mature consideration was considered at the time. The idea that a consideration was considered unbiased while it only accounted for the convenience of one race is baffling; it’s a complete lack of foresight into the future of the people that would make up the university. This relates to our discussion in our evolution engagement about noticing how science is inherently biased, which can be seen in their “impartial...consideration”, which is not impartial at all. They claim how it is a mature consideration, but there is nothing mature about the fact that they are segregating such a large portion of the population in the plans to build the University of Virginia.