During the University’s annual Thomas Jefferson Lecture Wednesday afternoon, participants suggested the University’s founder would have likely disapproved of women and racial minorities studying at the University.
University History Prof. Emeritus Peter Onuf, University of Richmond President Ed Ayers and University History Prof. Brian Balogh discussed how Jefferson would view the changes the University has undergone since its founding. The three men collectively lead the nonpartisan weekly public radio show “BackStory with the American History Guys.”
Until 1970, the University student body was comprised solely of men, and Onuf said Jefferson would not be in favor of the change.
“[Jefferson believed] women belong[ed] at the home,” Onuf said. “The family [was] the central institution of a healthy, robust, republican society.” Whenever Jefferson wanted to justify something he invoked nature, Onuf said, so Jefferson would have said home is the natural place for women.
Nor would Jefferson, a slaveholder himself, have approved of the education of African-Americans, Onuf said.
“The real difference he saw between whites and slaves was [one group was] a nations of captors and [the other] a captive nation,” Onuf said.
Balogh also raised questions about the term “engagement”’ and how Jefferson redefined the term through his work at the University.
“[Jefferson] called [the University project] the enlightenment,” Onuf said. “The Enlightenment was the first great engagement project.” Jefferson reached out to the world and the world came to him — a model of global engagement relevant for the University even today, Onuf said.
The lecture concluded with a question and answer session.
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