Contested Spaces
Examining the Past, Present, and Forgotten at the University of Virginia
Past Legacies: Representation...
One legacy of UVA that still stands is Old Dorms. The buildings within Old Dorms were all named for UVA professors who were either hired by Jefferson himself, had created new departments or professorships, or professors who were especially popular among students. The buildings that currently make up Old Dorms are Echols, Humphreys, Dabney, Metcalf, LeFevre, Emmet, Page, Bonnycastle, Hancock, and Kent. While most of these men were nothing more than average professors, some had a somewhat controversial reputation. Professor Hancock was a gunner for the Confederate army and a personal friend of General Robert E. Lee. He often said that, while he enjoyed being a professor, the title he “cherished the most was ‘First Gunner of Bryan’s Battery.”
Another professor with an interesting history is Professor Echols. The professor of engineering was responsible for attempting to stop the famous Rotunda fire with dynamite and causing the fire to grow, furthering the destruction. However, these names are intensely ingrained within the University’s past, so how do we represent the University community’s current values without disregarding past legacies? Should more name changes be considered, or do these legacies deserve continued recognition?
...and Misrepresentation?: Dr. Harvey Ernest Jordan
Dr. Harvey E. Jordan was a fixture of the university from 1907-1949. He published over 100 papers, was Dean of the Medical School, and eventually he and his wife Ilda May Voorhees lived on the Lawn. Although he could not make his Raven Award ceremony in 1940, his awardees had nothing but accolades to bestow. They lauded Dr. Jordan as a “potent influence” who toiled “for the benefit of humanity,” who also maintained a sensibility “to the claims and aspirations of others.” Such praises are hard to ignore: they portray Dr. Jordan as a person who was not only well-known around the university but also well-liked by faculty and students alike. However the description ignores his more sinister eugenics research. Was Dr. Jordan a man of his times or a man who ardently believed in his research?
His paper titled “Heredity as a Factor in the Improvement of Social Conditions,” published by the American Breeders Magazine in 1911, suggests the latter. He presents a utopian vision-- that with hard work could be realized in seven generations time-- where “intelligent life is utilized to its fullest capacity.” Dr. Jordan criticized the mentally unfit for wasting society's resources with the countless institutions created for them. To achieve his utopian vision, he acknowledges the need for “prohibiting of parenthood to the unfit.” And in these words, we see both the rhetoric of eugenicists of the time who advocated the control of reproductive rights and the words of someone who-- at least at the time-- believed in its benefits for society. So for critics of Dr. Jordan today, who was the real Dr. Jordan: professor who enjoyed the “Far flung echoes of a distinguished reputation” or a man who is the symbol of the university’s complex legacies?
Moving Forward: Which Buildings will be Renamed Next?
Other buildings besides Jordan Hall have been reconsidered for renaming at the University of Virginia. In September 2017, the University Board of Visitors passed a resolution in favor to rename a residential building at the International Residential College (IRC) from Lewis House to Yen House. Ivey Foreman Lewis was a biology professor at the University of Virginia starting in 1915 and served as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences between the years 1946 and 1953. Similar to Harvey Jordan, Lewis was also a eugenicist, proposing that “the purity of the white race in America we regard as a basal necessity for the maintenance of the heritage which we have received”.
W.W. Yen became the first student from China to graduate from the University in 1900, and Yen was the first international student to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree. The Board of Visitors approved the name change primarily due to the fact that “Mr. Yen serves as a distinguished example of a true global scholar committed to cross-cultural exchange, peace and goodwill”. The University once again approached the renaming process with a forward-centric perspective; Yen’s legacy as an exceptional international graduate drove the decision to change the name in order to represent the current values of the IRC and the University as a whole. Since renaming buildings has become a more viable option to represent and honor the University’s diversity through outstanding individuals, will we see even more changed names in the future?