I did some research, and it's actually said that he specifically did a survey on the ages of residents in Charlottesville. He found that Charlottesville residents lived to a great age, pointing to Charlottesville being an area of "healthiness and fertility." I find this interesting, because it seems to me that Jefferson was really passionate about the location of UVA being in Charlottesville (which makes sense, considering Monticello was already here).

It's important to note that the cornerstone of the University of Virginia was laid in 1817, yet this report about the establishment of the University was written in 1818. I was curious about this temporal gap, so I did some research. It turns out that the University of Virginia was once called Central College, which had its foundations laid in 1817. This would also provide a practical reason to found UVA in Charlottesville; after all, it would make sense to establish the University in a place that already had structures in place.

The University of Virginia was clearly founded on institutions of white supremacy, but I think many forget the extent to which indigenous people suffered as a result of UVA's white supremacist orientation. In general, the colonization of what is now the United States came at a great disadvantage to our region's native inhabitants. It is also important to note, however, the extent to which our founding fathers (including Jefferson) were complicit in the systematic destruction of indigenous cultures and livelihoods. UVA was founded by a man who was very clearly detrimental to the region's indigenous populations.

I find this passage interesting, as Thomas Jefferson was one who valued the natural sciences, but certainly considered it to be less important than other subjects. This is evident from the neoclassical order of columns that Jefferson used outside of Pavilion I on the Lawn, which originally held instruction in the Life Sciences. Pavilion I has Doric columns, which are the second lowest order of columns. The fact that Pavilion I has Doric columns, and Pavilion III (which held instruction in Law) held Corinthian columns (which are the second highest order of columns) indicates that Jefferson considered certain academic subjects to be more important than others.

This relates back to Thomas Jefferson's education at the College of William and Mary. At the time in which Jefferson was a student at William and Mary, almost all activities took place in one building, called the Wren Building. Thomas Jefferson not only thought this wasn't conducive to educational and academic success, but he thought that it was unhygienic and dangerous (especially in regards to fire; the Wren building has burnt down multiple times historically). Therefore, it makes sense that the Academical Village has more wide distribution of University functions. The library is located in the Rotunda, classrooms are spread out between 10 Pavilions, and students stay in multiple dorms with different entrances. The University's functions were more spread out for hygienic and safety-related reasons.

It is interesting to note that the University of Virginia was supposedly founded on freedom of religion, and yet the Rockfish Gap Report indicates that students at the University should be educated in Hebrew, the language in which Christian scripture is written. This could indicate that there is a disconnect between Thomas Jefferson's concept of religious diversity and contemporary understandings of religious diversity. Whereas today religious diversity would be defined by a wide variety of religious beliefs, it is implied here that Thomas Jefferson's concept of religious diversity involved having multiple shades of Christianity represented at the University, not multiple types of religions.