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THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, ACADEMIC FREEDOM, AND JEFFERSON
>1) The University of Virginia is a state university, public funded etc. isn't it? In >other words, it is not private, is it? Absolutely. It is rated as the #1 State university in the nation. It is #20 (I believe) when compared to all universities, public and private. >Please send me any information about Thomas Jefferson's contribution to >adult education especially in reference to his establishment of acedemic >freedom through the University of VIrginia. >I am a graduate student at the University of South Florida and I am >conducting research on this subject. There are some quotations on the website, "Thomas Jefferson on Politics & Government," Chapters 38 and 39, related to universities in general and the University of Virginia in particular. The quotations in both chapters will probably be as good a source as any for a statement of Jefferson's principles related to higher education and academic freedom. Jefferson more often addressed the importance of education TO freedom, rather than the importance of freedom IN education, though there are several in the latter category. Chapter 11, "Governed by Reason," of that website has a lot of material related to Jefferson's general approach to education, which included a very advanced attitude towards a free marketplace of ideas and open-ended investigation, such as is illustrated by the following quote: "I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 1814. ME 14:85 There are many letters related to the establishment of UVa that you can find through the index of "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson" 20 vols., Lipscomb & Bergh, eds. Volume 19 has the minutes for the Board of Visitors up until Jefferson's death. Other than that, your best bet might be to check out some of the biographies, such as those by Malone, Randall, Peterson. > Can you help with this inquiry? I understand that most of these kinds of > things may be in the library of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville > (my alma mater), but I cannot find UVA on the net. There is public access to the UVa collection at the following URL: http://virgo.lib.virginia.edu/publogin.html They have an interesting feature that allows you, once you find something you want to make a record of, to click a few buttons and the information on the book, etc., will be sent to you via email.