PUBLIC gardens ... yeah that's the ticket. We'll put up some public gardens. Yeah. And some of us will buy our own plots in the gardens. Yeah. And we'll be able to plant tomatoes and azaleas and morning glories. And it will help solve some of the University's problems ... or at least it will be an innovative attempt at solving the University's problems.
The University community is predicated on the idea that we, as students, come together in pursuit of a common interest -- be it academic, social or cultural. It's high time we come together in pursuit of botanical interests. If we do, the rest may follow.
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"Nature is not just 'nice' ... it is a vital ingredient in healthy human functioning," says University of Michigan psychologist Stephen Kaplan. Bulldozer drones and hard drive whirs might hold functional importance, but they aren't "nice" and they certainly aren't a "vital ingredient" of anything. Yellow steel and Microsoft be damned. We need public gardens.
Yes, the Pavilion gardens offer an occasional respite and the flowers sure are pretty. But they don't really belong to students and students definitely aren't welcome to use them as planters. They belong to admissions brochures, the Capital Campaign and the more adventuresome members of the University Guide Services.
If the sheer mass of student leaders and student publications are any indication, however, we're a community of control freaks. Both figuratively and literally, all we need is a pile of dirt, a fence to keep outsiders on the outside, and the ambition that drove us to become University students.
We'll take care of the planting and we'll probably even donate some of our more edible creations. For now let's put the plants and vegetables aside and get to the meat.
The "nutjobs" who talk to their plants have been studying the benefits of gardening and public gardens for years. According to the authors of The Biophilia Hypothesis, Stephen Kellert and Edward Wilson, "Humanity needs a vision of an expanding and unending future. The other planets are inhospitable and immensely expensive to reach. The true frontier for humanity is life on earth." In other words, we don't just want public gardens, we need public gardens.
There is other, less frightening evidence for the importance of public gardens. Researchers across the nation have found that public gardens offer patrons the opportunity to communicate with neighbors and thus lead to increased community cohesion. Can anyone say diversity? Good. Build a public garden.
If placing the impetus for social diversity on a green thumb sounds ridiculous, there are more realistic benefits. Most researchers agree that gardening leads to increased self-esteem. For the University this could translate into less iron pumping, less alcohol consumption and more clothes. If you're tired of Rugby Road looking like 42nd St. on free beer night or if you think the best thing about the Aquatic and Fitness Center is Smoothies, maybe you should help start a public garden. That's the meat of this issue, now let's look at the substance.
The Capital Campaign has a set goal of $5 million "to create an endowment for the historic gardens and grounds." Even if done to astronomically high University standards, it's doubtful that a public garden costs more than $500,000. It's just dirt and a fence. Moreover, the Capital Campaign claims that "Jefferson left no indication of how the gardens around the pavilions should be planted" (http://www.virginia.edu/devel/aboutdev/envisionS99/gardens.htm). Any ideas?
Maybe the Pavilion gardens simply are too sacred to allow students free reign. There are plenty of other grassy areas that could be replaced by soil. It's about time Nameless Field got a better name. If not there, the area surrounding Brooks Hall already looks like a project gone awry and there's plenty of fencing and dirt. It wouldn't hurt to make it a student project gone awry.
At a University where every computer lab is set for optimal use and there's an ATM in the library, a public garden might be a stretch. For one thing, it wasn't in Jefferson's original plans. It's not in anyone's plans right now either. Perhaps that's why it would be so important. There would be no closed-door meetings about untended Plot 23 or about whether to install Windows NT on the geraniums. It would do little more than beg the question, "What the hell is that piece of crap for?" That's a good question even by Jeffersonian standards.
(Chris DelGrosso's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily.)
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