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U.Va. suspends admissions tours led by the University Guides Service
Hat tip, the Augusta Free Press:
VIRGINIA
UVA suspends ‘woke’ student tour group, at behest of Youngkin’s far-right zealots
Chris Graham
Published date:
August 31, 2024 | 11:21 am
The official word on why UVA suspended the University Guide Service from leading tours to prospective students and their parents is that the group supposedly isn’t able to staff the required number of tours, and that the information provided during the tours isn’t “consistent.”
The real answer is hinted at in the second part, about the tours not being “consistent. … Score another point for Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointees to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, who want you to think UVA is too “woke.”
“Student administrative-sanctioned events must have a welcoming script and guides willing to deliver it. However, these tours have degenerated into discourses on slavery, segregation, racism, and the persecution of indigenous peoples. Many students and parents have been turned off and never return,” was the message that Tom Neale, the president of The Jefferson Council, a far-right alumni group, wrote in “An Open Letter to Governor Youngkin: Pick Fighters for the UVA Board,” dated June 28.
In the letter, Neale advised the governor to include among his priorities for his latest round of appointments to the BOV that the appointees be willing and ready to “sever relations with the Student Guides club that provides student and historical tours.”
{snip}
UVA suspends ‘woke’ student tour group, at behest of Youngkin’s far-right zealots
Chris Graham
Published date:
August 31, 2024 | 11:21 am
The official word on why UVA suspended the University Guide Service from leading tours to prospective students and their parents is that the group supposedly isn’t able to staff the required number of tours, and that the information provided during the tours isn’t “consistent.”
The real answer is hinted at in the second part, about the tours not being “consistent. … Score another point for Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointees to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, who want you to think UVA is too “woke.”
“Student administrative-sanctioned events must have a welcoming script and guides willing to deliver it. However, these tours have degenerated into discourses on slavery, segregation, racism, and the persecution of indigenous peoples. Many students and parents have been turned off and never return,” was the message that Tom Neale, the president of The Jefferson Council, a far-right alumni group, wrote in “An Open Letter to Governor Youngkin: Pick Fighters for the UVA Board,” dated June 28.
In the letter, Neale advised the governor to include among his priorities for his latest round of appointments to the BOV that the appointees be willing and ready to “sever relations with the Student Guides club that provides student and historical tours.”
{snip}
News
U.Va. suspends admissions tours led by the University Guides Service
All admissions tours will now be led by student interns employed by the University
The Guide Service said they will continue their recruitment operations for this semester.
Photo by Domenick Fini | The Cavalier Daily
By Thomas Baxter , Grace Thrush and Finn Trainer
August 29, 2024
The University Guide Service announced Wednesday in a statement on Instagram that the University has suspended them from conducting both admissions and historical tours, citing concerns from the University over tour attendance and tour quality. According to the statement, the Guide Service will continue to work with the University to develop an agreement that would allow for future Guide Service-led tours, and the group will continue their recruitment operations for the semester.
The Guide Service is a student-run organization on Grounds that gave admissions and historical tours to prospective students, families and visitors. As a Special Status Organization, the group is among a handful of other groups on Grounds — such as Student Council and the University Board of Elections — that are trusted to act as agents of the University. This designation means that they are required to keep a close working relationship with a University advisor.
University spokesperson Bethanie Glover said in an email statement to The Cavalier Daily that instead of members of the Guide Service, student interns employed by the Office of Admission will be conducting admissions tours for prospective students and their families. According to Glover, the University has been in “close contact” with the Guide Service and its leadership over the past two years, cooperating to develop plans for the future of the Guide Service and admissions tours.
{snip}
The Jefferson Council, an alumni group whose stated goals are to promote a culture of civil dialogue at the University and preserve Jefferson’s legacy, has historically criticized the Guide Service for inserting “radical views” and “inflammatory opinions” into its tours. … In 2022, the Jefferson Council’s co-founder and former president Bert Ellis was appointed to the Board of Visitors. Both before and after his appointment to the Board, Ellis has consistently been a vocal critic of the Guide Service for the content of its tours. … “The University Guides now seem intent on ‘contextualizing’ Mr. Jefferson as a slave holder and rapist, and to completely undermine his part of the Founding of America and our University,” Ellis said in a 2021 article published to the Jefferson Council’s website.
{snip}
U.Va. suspends admissions tours led by the University Guides Service
All admissions tours will now be led by student interns employed by the University
The Guide Service said they will continue their recruitment operations for this semester.
Photo by Domenick Fini | The Cavalier Daily
By Thomas Baxter , Grace Thrush and Finn Trainer
August 29, 2024
The University Guide Service announced Wednesday in a statement on Instagram that the University has suspended them from conducting both admissions and historical tours, citing concerns from the University over tour attendance and tour quality. According to the statement, the Guide Service will continue to work with the University to develop an agreement that would allow for future Guide Service-led tours, and the group will continue their recruitment operations for the semester.
The Guide Service is a student-run organization on Grounds that gave admissions and historical tours to prospective students, families and visitors. As a Special Status Organization, the group is among a handful of other groups on Grounds — such as Student Council and the University Board of Elections — that are trusted to act as agents of the University. This designation means that they are required to keep a close working relationship with a University advisor.
University spokesperson Bethanie Glover said in an email statement to The Cavalier Daily that instead of members of the Guide Service, student interns employed by the Office of Admission will be conducting admissions tours for prospective students and their families. According to Glover, the University has been in “close contact” with the Guide Service and its leadership over the past two years, cooperating to develop plans for the future of the Guide Service and admissions tours.
{snip}
The Jefferson Council, an alumni group whose stated goals are to promote a culture of civil dialogue at the University and preserve Jefferson’s legacy, has historically criticized the Guide Service for inserting “radical views” and “inflammatory opinions” into its tours. … In 2022, the Jefferson Council’s co-founder and former president Bert Ellis was appointed to the Board of Visitors. Both before and after his appointment to the Board, Ellis has consistently been a vocal critic of the Guide Service for the content of its tours. … “The University Guides now seem intent on ‘contextualizing’ Mr. Jefferson as a slave holder and rapist, and to completely undermine his part of the Founding of America and our University,” Ellis said in a 2021 article published to the Jefferson Council’s website.
{snip}
University of Virginia Suspends Tours Criticized for Emphasizing Ties to Slavery
A group of conservative alumni said the student-led tours were overly focused on the school’s history of using enslaved laborers.
By Stephanie Saul
Aug. 29, 2024
The University of Virginia said on Thursday that it had suspended a longstanding campus tour service, but said the move was unrelated to complaints that the tours cast a negative historical spotlight on the school, particularly its relationship to slavery.
The tours, aimed primarily at prospective students and their families, were run by student volunteers. For several years, the tour organization, the University Guide Service, has been the focus of criticism from an organization of conservative alumni called the Jefferson Council, which has argued that the volunteer guides have alienated prospective students by providing a “woke version of U.Va. history.”
{snip}
The announcement came about two months after a new set of appointees selected by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, cemented his administration’s control of the university’s governing board of trustees. His appointees now hold 13 of 17 seats.
{snip}
The announcement was first reported by the student-run newspaper, The Cavalier Daily. It came as U.Va., one of the country’s most selective public universities, was set to release the demographics of its entering freshman class — the first group admitted following last year’s Supreme Court decision banning the consideration of race in university admissions.
{snip}
A group of conservative alumni said the student-led tours were overly focused on the school’s history of using enslaved laborers.
By Stephanie Saul
Aug. 29, 2024
The University of Virginia said on Thursday that it had suspended a longstanding campus tour service, but said the move was unrelated to complaints that the tours cast a negative historical spotlight on the school, particularly its relationship to slavery.
The tours, aimed primarily at prospective students and their families, were run by student volunteers. For several years, the tour organization, the University Guide Service, has been the focus of criticism from an organization of conservative alumni called the Jefferson Council, which has argued that the volunteer guides have alienated prospective students by providing a “woke version of U.Va. history.”
{snip}
The announcement came about two months after a new set of appointees selected by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, cemented his administration’s control of the university’s governing board of trustees. His appointees now hold 13 of 17 seats.
{snip}
The announcement was first reported by the student-run newspaper, The Cavalier Daily. It came as U.Va., one of the country’s most selective public universities, was set to release the demographics of its entering freshman class — the first group admitted following last year’s Supreme Court decision banning the consideration of race in university admissions.
{snip}