This quote I find heartening and a spirit that the University can use as its mission today. We have an ugly history, but as the Report says no man is fixed. We can separate ourselves and move on from our history and be "wiser, happier, or better" than our predecessors were. It is this duality of this report and the institution at which I attend that is so interesting. Our intentions are good, but we need to be sure we practice what we preach. Matt Mandell

Can you "improve" some one's morals? To me, good or bad morals are a subjective analysis of the ethics of a man. Everybody has their own idea of what is right or wrong, and to institutionalize an idea of better morals is dangerous, especially with the morals held by some of the University''s founders. Matt Mandell

Jefferson and the University's founders held a supercilious view over the Native Americans and their traditional lifestyle. They felt as if the indigenous population was inferior simply for their tendency to revert back to old traditions and simple ways of life rather than pursuing a goal of democracy and advanced civilization. The native population had a structure of government and tradition that maintained their societal constructs but the white men who founded our university considered it to be lesser because it wasn't formal, written down, or an advancement of political theory. In an evolutionary sense, it is interesting to think about when or why it became necessary for humans to need a written out document defining their system of governance or their individual liberty. Did men become more ambitious or unruly as they became "smarter" or more aware and worldly throughout time?

In laying the cornerstone of the University the founders considered many places in Virginia including Lexington, Charlottresville, and Augusta County. However, Charlottesville was chosen due to its affluence and concentration of the caucasian population. The concentration of races can be found on a macro-scale dating back 200,000 years ago when the human population in Africa split off into different parts of the Earth. However, this isolation is also present on a micro level even within the confines of a state. Some towns are heavily black and others white, etc.