OF THE University, Thomas Jefferson once said "the great object of our aim from the beginning has been to make this establishment the most eminent in the United States, in order to draw to it the youth of every state." Jefferson wanted to create an excellent school not only for Virginians, but also for students from across the country. His aim was to give them a chance to meet in a sleepy town called Charlottesville and, through their differing viewpoints, enrich each other's lives.
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As Mr. Jefferson had hoped, the University has become one of the best schools in the country.
Now that we have reached our founder's goal of eminence, we should be ready to take the next step: drawing in the "youth of every state" so as to remain a school of nationwide, and not just state-wide, prestige.
So far, we haven't made life too easy for out-of-state students who want to come here. They face perpetual tuition hikes, forcing them to bear the brunt of the financial burden. Most recently, a bill introduced in the Virginia General Assembly would have capped the number of out-of-state students at 25 percent, had it succeeded.
Cutting down the number of out-of-state students is not what our founder would have wanted.
If anything, the number of out-of-state students should be increased. Such a move would not only improve the quality of the institution, but also its students' quality of life, most notably in the vital area of diversity.
Diversity is an important part of any college student's experience. Most people agree that racial diversity is a good thing, because it allows students from varying backgrounds and lifestyles to interact and learn from each other.
Now another kind of diversity should be made a priority: geographic diversity. It means students have the opportunity to meet classmates who have completely different upbringings, world views and cultural heritages. It involves meeting people who have lived beyond one's own state lines, even beyond one's own national borders.
As things are right now, there is almost an absurd number of University students hailing from Northern Virginia. Students from NoVa, as it is called, cannot walk three feet without running into someone who went to their high school, was a member of their youth group, or even used to baby-sit them. Such circumstances can make life comfortable. Northern Virginian students know that moving to Charlottesville will be significantly less scary than it may be for someone coming from across the country. We have the security blanket of knowing we will still see many familiar faces when we get here.
Besides "comfortable," another way to describe this situation is "boring."
The large number of Northern Virginian students means much of the student body has an identical background. We have had the same types of experiences - we've been to the same places, held the same types of jobs.
It is always a treat to meet someone from out-of-state, simply because they are different. They have interesting things like accents and stories about living in places whose names we don't even recognize. They have lived in the largest of cities and the smallest of towns. While we call a soft drink "soda," they call it "tonic" or "pop."
The presence of out-of-state students makes the college experience much richer for everyone. This is especially true for the in-state students, many of whom grow weary of encountering nothing but people who grew up six blocks away from them.
By cutting down the number of out-of-state students, either by making it too expensive for them to come here or by flat-out limiting their numbers, the University would lose more than just talented out-of-state students.
If the student body becomes more Virginian and, therefore, more homogenous, the University would lose high caliber in-state students as well. They, along with the rest of the country, would begin to view the University not as a national institution, but as a state school. They would wonder if it might be more interesting to go somewhere else - somewhere they can meet people unlike themselves, from all corners of the country.
Increasing the number of out-of-state students would be a good way to move toward Jefferson's goal of making it a school for the "youth of every state," while ensuring that talented in-state students will keep attending the University as well. Opening the University's arms toward out-of-state students will attract the notice of any student interested in diversity - and most of them are.
(Laura Sahramaa is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. She can be reached at Kimmo@fusatech.com.)
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