It's V-i-r-g-i-n-i-a-a-a-a!

But some things are immutable. Last fall, in order to dramatize a protest, some students stole a bust of the founder. When they were collared, one instigator was quick to explain, "We weren't assaulting Mister Jefferson. We love him." And the beauty of his place remains surpassing. In 1976, the American Institute of Architects polled experts and found Mister Jefferson's Grounds worthy of more acclaim than any other design in the nation's history. The Rotunda has survived fire; The Lawn, toaster-ovens; Mister Jefferson, his love life. The Sevens still exists, somewhere out there. The fraternities still thrive along Rugby Road, and so does Easters.

A coat and tie remained de rigueur for students' everyday wear well into the '60s, and even now a visitor will be surprised by a style and neatness long gone from other campuses. Margaret Groos, from Tennessee, The University's second female scholarship athlete and the reigning AAU women's cross-country champion, says, "Conformity is still strong at The University. Many kids wear a 'uniform' all the time—boys in khakis with a pullover sweater over a button-down or an alligator shirt. The girls wear plaid skirts and ponytails and ribbons. Hot pink and lime green are the colors now." Next time, Mister Jefferson will be in the columns with Sandra Dee.

But it isn't only a style that lingers. Mike Owens, last year's basketball co-captain, a handsome black who plans to study medicine, says, "No matter what anybody claims, there are a lot of Southern traditions still clinging to the University of Virginia. Whenever there's any doubt, somebody is still going to throw a big party. So there is still that type, but it was good for me because I learned to enjoy being able to deal with people who inherently don't like me. That's part of the education I got here, too."

The fact is that the time may be ripe for athletics at Yooveeay, and at places like it where sports are kept in some perspective—midway, say, between the quality of the cafeteria food and provisions for places where students and faculty can park their automobiles. The corruption at other places can only benefit a school like The University. It is true that Yooveeay has never gone to a bowl and never won an NCAA playoff game, but for recruits the more significant statistics are that 67% of all Yooveeay students graduate in four years, almost 75% in five, which is above the national average—and the figures are virtually identical for Wahoo athletes. Yes, losing isn't everything. And good Lord, after all those years of world-class practice, can you imagine The Victory Party they could throw at The University?

Virginia had been defeated but, who cared?...A few sang songs; others kept on drinking, and those who fell were not left to die there, but were carried away between two friends, in the spirit of brotherhood. At the fraternity houses the colored men had built great fires and here the boys stood noisily discussing the game, while...a girl with an unattractive pale face and large breasts was being led sobbing, complaining of insults and Virginia gentlemen, so-called.... All of a sudden the door opened. A gust of cold wind entered, and Peyton and Dick Cartwright, flanked by two moonfaced boys who began to brandish whisky bottles.

"We come from old Virgin-i-a," they sang, "where all is bright and gay."

The crowd turned, a cheer went up, and the two boys, their arms around Peyton and Dick, led a brassy encore: "Are you ready? Get set!"

Wha-hoo-wah,
Wha-hoo-wah,
Uni-v, Virginia;
Hoo, rah, ray!
Hoo, rah, ray!
Ray! Ray!
U. V-a.
—WILLIAM STYRON
Lie Down In Darkness

In an ironic way, it is the athletes here today who most resemble the ideal of the old-line Wahoos. Those men came here to learn how to be responsible, to be role models, so they could leave as gentry, as leaders of The Commonwealth. The athletes may come only as that, as athletes, but by the time they leave, they have learned to respond in many ways to this beautiful place. And that's what the liberal arts are all about.
—PROFESSOR ALAN WILLIAMS
Faculty Chairman of Athletics