Flip through “University of Virginia: Off the Record” and you’ll find the word “preppy” repeated throughout the sections describing the student body. The book, printed in 2006 by College Prowler, profiles various aspects of the University. It quotes University students anonymously, summarizes their opinions in a paragraph and assigns a letter grade to that section.

The book claims “U.Va. students have a refined look” and goes on to describe that style, giving “A’s” to both boys and girls. According to the profile, boys generally wear polo shirts wit  popped collars, khakis or jeans, baseball caps and “sometimes the fratty pants (all plaid — sort of ridiculous looking),” while the girls generally wear “tiny skirts, capri pants, button-down blouses [and] pearls.”

Second-year Engineering student Jessica Ungerleider defined “preppy” as merely a clothing style and said U.Va. is not so much “preppy” as it is “fad-driven.” Ungerleider said she does not have a “distinct style,” but added that she does participate in some fads and would say she’s “preppy” if she had to identify with a particular style.

“But that’s not just because I go to U.Va.,” she said.

Second-year College student Jennifer Neiman said she thinks the University’s reputation holds true “to an extent, but there a lot of those who don’t fit the ‘preppy’ category. There are lots of different styles here.”

First-year College student Seamus O’Toole said “preppy is not necessarily just a clothing style, but the clothing style is more prevalent [here] than the personality of being slightly arrogant.”

All three students did acknowledge this style is more prevalent at the University than at other schools they’ve visited — especially Virginia Tech. They also agreed, however, that there are schools even preppier than U.Va. — Ungerleider mentioned Duke, and O’Toole cited Villanova.

Although the student body-related sections of “Off the Record” seem to focus on the idea that University students are homogeneously preppy, the diversity section of the book offers opposing views.

One anonymous student claimed “Virginia’s diversity is great — and growing every day,” while another told College Prowler “It’s somewhat diverse, but honestly, people stick to their cultures more than I would like.” Overall, the University was given a “C” for diversity.

U.Va.’s “preppy” reputation was bolstered by the 2010 release of “True Prep”, written by Lisa Birnbach and Chip Kidd, which included multiple references to the University. Among the items on the book’s preppy to-do list is saving money for a U.Va. scholarship fund.

The book, which was one of the nonfiction bestsellers at the U.Va. bookstore during the summer, also references the fictional Facebook page of a self-proclaimed “preppie” whose political views are simply “Wah-Hoo-Wah.”

Co-author Chip Kidd has never visited U.Va., but included allusions to the University in the book because it “is obviously a preppy college,” he said in an interview.

So where exactly does this reputation stem from? One may look to the year 1979 when alumnus Tom Shadyac (College, 1981) created the “Are you a preppie?” poster as a fundraiser for his fraternity, Sigma Chi, which needed money to pay off a debt.

“We needed a fundraiser to pull ourselves out of that debt and to keep a beer distributor from breaking our knee caps,” Shadyac said.

Shadyac said preppy attire was not unique to U.Va. at the time. Rather, it was prevalent among traditional East Coast colleges.

“Pink and green could’ve been our national colors,” he said.

Although Shadyac couldn’t recall the exact amount of money made by selling the posters, he said the profits were not as high as one might expect from selling “hundreds of thousands of posters.”

When asked where the money went, Shadyac replied, “One word: gulp.”

This poster was followed by the “Official Preppy Handbook”, originally published in 1980, which included the University in its list of the “Top Ten” preppy American colleges. Another reference can be found in the “Dressing the Part” section, in which the handbook defines the “Cute Boy” type, which it says can be found at U.Va.

Certainly the University has made its mark on popular culture’s prep identity, but students are quick to point out the preppy lifestyle is not representative of U.Va. as a whole.

“Being here, [prep culture is] prevalent, but it doesn’t ‘make U.Va.,’” O’Toole said. “If you look for it, [though], you will find it.”