White supremacists marching at the University of Virginia – does this reflect the university’s attitude?
The march, and even more so the violence, were strongly condemned by UVA. Here are some statements from the President of the university to that effect.
The mayor of Charlottesville condemned the march in even stronger terms, calling it “a cowardly parade of hatred, bigotry, racism, and intolerance.” Note that the protestors came from out of town; they chose Charlottesville because it was in the process of removing and renaming monuments to the city's white supremacist past.
The US has a very strong tradition of free speech; generally speaking, if some people want to march, it is difficult or impossible to stop them, even if you oppose the cause for which they stand.
In my opinion the violence reflects badly on the US as a whole, but not on Charlottesville or UVA in particular. Whether or not things get worse, no one can say. I certainly hope not.
White supremacists marching at the University of Virginia – does this reflect the university’s attitude?
No, absolutely not. Here's the President of UVA's statement from before the earlier rally (there were two) as published on the university's official website:
University of Virginia President Teresa A. Sullivan on Tuesday issued the following message to the University community regarding a scheduled Ku Klux Klan rally on July 8 in Charlottesville:
To the University community:
Members of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, based in North Carolina, plan to hold a rally in Charlottesville on July 8. The stated purpose of their rally is to protest the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in Emancipation Park, formerly Lee Park.
The KKK represents ideologies of hatred and exclusion that run directly counter to the principles of mutual respect, diversity, and inclusion that we espouse and uphold at our University. The KKK has a long history of racial violence and murder. As a unified community, we condemn the detestable beliefs of the KKK as well as the group’s message of intolerance and hate.
We also support the First Amendment and the principle of free speech, and we know that the members of this group have the right to assemble and speak. We abhor their beliefs, yet we recognize their right to express those beliefs in a public forum, and the City of Charlottesville plans to protect their right to do so.
I urge UVA community members to avoid the rally and avoid confrontation on July 8. To listen and respond to these outsiders would only call more attention to their viewpoint and create the publicity that they crave. Instead, I encourage you to support the alternative events that Charlottesville leaders are planning. These tentatively include a program at the Jefferson School African-American Center and a community picnic at Ix Art Park. Details are available here. The Albemarle-Charlottesville chapter of the NAACP and other organizations are planning additional events for the community.
There is irony in the timing of the KKK rally, which falls only four days after Independence Day, when we celebrate our nation’s hard-won freedom and our founding belief that all people are created equal and entitled to unalienable human rights. As a community, let’s remain confident that the voice of justice and equality will drown out the voice of hatred in the end.
Teresa A. Sullivan President
-"UVA President Issues Statement Regarding Planned KKK Rally", UVAToday (2017-06-27)
To summarize that, they allowed the rally on free speech grounds, but explicitly condemned its message. They're a public university in a country where free speech is a central right, so it seems unlikely that they could've blocked it.
For a more recent posting, here's a Q&A with the President of UVA in the aftermath of the second rally, issued yesterday: "In Aftermath of Violence, Sullivan Reflects on Challenging Weekend", UVAToday (2017-08-13). It's too long to quote in full here, but:
Q. Traumatic and emotional events have occurred in the last 48 hours. People have been killed and many in our University community remain frightened, angry, confused, frustrated. What is on your mind right now?
A. The first thing I have to say is how indescribably sad it is that three lives were cut short. There were 35 or more people who were injured. And that was needless. The University is about freedom of speech, but free speech is not the same as violence. We strongly condemn this kind of abhorrent and intimidating behavior whose purpose is only to create fear and cause divisions in the community.
[...]
Q. You often talk about how the messages of the alt-right and others who were affiliated with this rally and demonstrations do not reflect the values that the University embraces. Simply, what are those core values?
A. I’ve just spoken at length on diversity. And another way we talk about that is inclusion. For a lot of the University’s history, there were specific demographic groups who were excluded. Well, we’re not about that. We’re seeking to include them. We believe in mutual respect. And that means that you can discuss a variety of issues with one another, including with disagreements, but you still respect the other person. Disagreement is not the same as saying, ‘I disagree with you, so, therefore, you must die.’ That’s some of what we were hearing yesterday. That’s a really objectionable message.
-"In Aftermath of Violence, Sullivan Reflects on Challenging Weekend", UVAToday (2017-08-13)
I know almost nothing about academia but as someone who is familiar with the area, I think we need to set a few things straight. There are some implications in the question that suggest basic misunderstanding of the situation.
The white supremacists were, from all accounts I have seen, primarily or wholly from outside the area. The gathering was declared unlawful by local police in accordance with State law during the event. The governor and the local government have no qualms about condemning the 'unite the right' protesters and white supremacists in general. Charlottesville is considered a progressive town. Something like 80% of the votes went for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Charlottesville is less 200km from the nation's capital. Describing it as 'down south' seems odd to me. UVA is located in Charlottesville but the protests had nothing to do with UVA directly. You could argue that the liberal influence of the university and it's dominance over the city lead to decision to remove the Lee statue and rename Lee park.
In particular, I think it's important to note that the man charged with murder and potentially federal civil rights charges is from Ohio. It's not clear whether you are from the US but let's be quite clear, Ohio is not the south. The reason this happened there is not because the town condones this. It's quite the opposite. It was chosen as a place for white nationalists to push back against liberalism because the city is moving forward with a plan to remove symbols of bigotry from a public park.
One of the things that caught my eye/ear about this incident is that the 'unite the right' crowd had been harassing church-goers. It's a pretty clear sign that they were not local. Messing with people going to church, regardless of the person's color, is inconceivable in small-town Virginia. It's this kind of thing that led to the decline of the KKK in the south many decades ago.
Will these people return to Charlottesville again? I guess it's possible but I think it's more likely they will want to make their presence known in other locations. Another key point here is that this is not the middle of the 20th century. There has been a very significant migration of people to the 'sun belt' over the last 5 decades or so. The US is fairly homogenized on a national level. North-South doesn't matter that much anymore. It's rural vs. urban and Charlottesville, like many college towns in the US, is like an urban colony.