The University of Virginia has halted admissions tours led by a radical student group after it was revealed that the group’s main priority was leftist indoctrination and, as a result, that their tours were off-putting. Tours led by the University Guide Service (UGS) were allegedly more focused on condemning Thomas Jefferson as an “exploiter, racist, and rapist” on “stolen Monacan lands” rather than highlighting the university and its unique and historic legacy to prospective students and their parents.
The tours, typically a 90-minute experience, are usually expected to provide prospective students and their families an introduction to UVA’s campus and student life.
However, some alumni and stakeholders who run the Jefferson Council— which is “dedicated to preserving the legacy of Thomas Jefferson, the Lawn, the Honor Code, and the free exchange of competing ideas and intellectual diversity one would expect from Mr. Jefferson’s university”— warned that the current narrative pushed by UGS guides emphasizes the Left’s “intersectional” victimhood ideology over merit or academic achievement.
According to the Jefferson Council’s James Bacon, an alumnus of the university, the now-suspended tours began with an introduction of everyone’s pronouns, followed by a lecture that minimizes Jefferson’s role in founding the university and criticizes his slave ownership. The tour guides then go on to connect Jefferson’s legacy to a 2017 rally led by neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
“It sure seems like the U Guides have made a decision to replace conveying the excitement, wonder and uniqueness of UVA with a political agenda which would seem to value inflammatory opinions and radical views versus actual history and facts,” Bacon reflected. “I walked away sad that for a lot of people, that is their first impression of UVA.”
In response to these concerns, the UVA Administration, in conjunction with the Office of Undergraduate Admission, has decided to implement a semester-long training plan for UGS, aiming to resume admissions tours in Spring 2025. The administration also suspended UGS from conducting historical tours, citing a need for reliability and tour quality. For now, only university employees will be allowed to give authorized campus tours.
