UVA suspends admissions tour group for mentioning Jefferson being a slaveowner

[get these nets]

University of Virginia suspends tours that had come under fire for mentioning Thomas Jefferson's ties to slavery​

The Jefferson Council alumni group had opposed University Guide Service volunteers for mentioning that the school's founder was a slaveowner.

A statue of Thomas Jefferson stands in front of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va.


Aug. 30, 2024
The University of Virginia suspended a campus tour program that had been criticized for citing school founder Thomas Jefferson's ties to slavery, officials said Friday.
The tours led by University Guide Service have been plagued by spotty attendance by student volunteers and issues with "consistency" in content, university officials said in a statement to NBC News.

The school has been "in close contact with the student-led University Guide Service" for two years "to address a trend of issues and concerns surrounding guide attendance and tour consistency, and to discuss plans for improvement," UVA said in statement.

The Jefferson Council, a conservative alumni group, had been calling for an end or change to the tour program, insisting that volunteers had been wrongly besmirching the legacy of UVA's founder.

The university's statement did not cite the Jefferson Council's ongoing campaign against University Guide Services.

And UVA spokesperson Bethanie Glover went a step further adding that: "This isn't in direct response to any criticism from the Jefferson Council. This is more to do with the guides not showing up for their scheduled tours."

Nonetheless, the alumni group's president claimed victory on Friday.
Council president Thomas Neale, a 1974 UVA grad, said his group helped push Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, to place 13 appointees on the university's 17-member governing board of trustees, which led to this action.
"So yeah, we raised the issue and now that they have 13 (appointees) — and not all of the Youngkin appointees are homogenous, some are fairly moderate — but all of them looked at this and said this has to change," Neale said.

Neale insisted his group doesn't want a whitewashing of Jefferson's status as a slaveowner, but a greater contextualization of America's third president and Declaration of Independence author.
He insisted that it should be taught that Jefferson signed into law, in 1807, the prohibition against the importation of slaves. The prohibition was poorly enforced, doing little to end the institution of slavery until the Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
"He's (Jefferson) quoted by every country in the modern era having started a democracy," Neale said. "There are many commendable things about him. Of course, mention he was a slave owner. That's not hidden."
In statement posted to social media on Wednesday, University Guide Services said it hopes to work with UVA administrators to re-start tours by spring 2025.

 

[Geode]

I wonder if they still have that wall up that blocked the view of slavery happening in real time form the rest of the campus.

 

[Regular Developer]

I wonder if they still have that wall up that blocked the view of slavery happening in real time form the rest of the campus.

When was this? I never noticed any walls when I was on campus. Though, I spent most of my time on the Engineering side of campus, so I dunno where the wall would have been

 

[Gold]

"ties" to slavery


That's like saying Jerry Jones has "ties" to the Dallas Cowboys
Jefferson was the GM and Head Coach of Slavery



Jokes aside, academia and heavy racial censorship have always been familiar bedfellows

 

[Rekkapryde]

He was a slaveowner. He was a founding father. He was a man that conducted experiments to show that slaves had smaller brains than whites (learned this in college). He founded UVA.

Tell the whole story. Don't act ashamed now. Wasn't ashamed then and it was how things were then. Just like his family tried to act like Sally Hemmings family and descendants were Cappin and then tried to reverse course when they had to accept the truth he had a whole lineage of black offspring through her (they must've been in love.... LMAO. Nah he could force her to give him the p*ssy cause he owned her. That's what it was).

This whole trying to rewrite and erase history because of the shame is pathetic. The whole point is to learn about shyt AND THE RAMIFICATIONS so you don't repeat the bad shyt.

 

[ORDER_66]

TIES to slavery.... nah that muthafukka was a bonafide slave owner thats how he made his fortune... enough of whitewashing history...

 

[Rekkapryde]

TIES to slavery.... nah that muthafukka was a bonafide slave owner thats how he made his fortune... enough of whitewashing history...

But it makes Cooper and Amy feel bad.

 

[Secure Da Bag]

But it makes Cooper and Amy feel bad.

Now the snowflakes need a safe space?

 

[Rekkapryde]

Now the snowflakes need a safe space?

Nope black people need to just get over it