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Saturday, March 10, 2007
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Jefferson's Public Ivy
By Carolyn Kleiner Butler

It's one of the first balmy spring afternoons in Charlottesville, and a clean-cut collection of undergrads and professorial types has taken over the Lawn at the University of Virginia, tossing Frisbees, perusing works of philosophy and literature, and chasing dogs. Strains of the latest pop standards ring out from one of the 54 historic rooms lining the brick colonnades on either side of the lush green, where the most involved, accomplished fourth-year students here reside. In fact, a number of these "Lawnies" have their doors open and can be glimpsed inside their small, bare-bones quarters studying or hanging out with friends; stacks of firewood, small grills, and the occasional rocking chair rest just outside.

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It's a scene that holds understandable appeal for students like Jade Craig, who will became a resident of Room 9 in the fall, capping an undergrad career that has already included stints as a tour guide, as a peer adviser with the Office of African-American Affairs, and as a member of the school's literary and debate society. "I can't believe I get to live in a landmark," he says, noting that his new home has been called "the greatest campus plan in the history of American architecture." Indeed, this "academical village," designed by U.Va. founder Thomas Jefferson nearly 200 years ago, is still the very heart of the institution. "It represents the ideas of community and leadership the university was founded on . . . with all kinds of students living and working together and interacting with professors," explains Craig, a Hattiesburg, Miss., native who is double majoring in French and political and social thought. He expects that not-so-minor inconveniences such as having to walk outside to the nearest bathroom on frigid mornings--not to mention a near-constant parade of prospective parents and students passing by and trying to peek in his mail slot--will be worth it, in the end. "You're basically put on display for a year, but it's a huge honor."

Living on the Lawn is just one of many cherished traditions at U.Va., founded by Jefferson in 1819 to keep the state's best and brightest in the South. Over time, the institution has evolved into a highly selective public university that provides what many consider an Ivy League-caliber education at a fraction of the cost. One of the smallest flagship state schools, with just over 13,000 undergrads--compared with nearly double that at the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Michigan--Virginia has always had a bit of a private-school vibe. There's the relatively well-to-do student body, for one thing, but also its impeccably maintained campus, the breadth and depth of academic offerings, easy access to faculty, smaller than average classes for a public institution, and a solid advising system that helps ensure that more than 90 percent of students graduate within six years. "It isn't easy to maintain an intimate student experience in the context of a modern research university, but U.Va. does it," says 1987 alum and associate professor of political science Eric Patashnik, who has also taught at the University of California-Los Angeles and Yale. But of course Virginia is public--and thus a relative bargain, with entering in-staters shelling out just $13,720 for tuition, fees, and room and board (out-of-staters, who make up 31 percent of the student body, pay $30,640). "I'm getting a world-class education for nickels and dimes," says history and music major Myles Glancy, a first-year student from Richmond.


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