UVA students are eager, undeterred by violence, protests

New arrivals look forward to fresh start

Cynthia Okoye is excited to be here.

The 18-year-old freshman from Ashburn, Va., wants to be a biomedical engineer, and although she found the violence that roiled Charlottesville last weekend sobering, she has no doubts about starting school this week at the University of Virginia.

“I talked to my parents, my sister and brother about it,” she says, referring to a torchlight rally Aug. 11, when hundreds of white nationalists and white supremacists marched through university grounds. “My parents did say they wanted me to stay more alert, but they still feel great about UVA.

Okoye’s mind-set is similar to that of many on the UVA campus Sunday: Students are aware of Charlottesville’s troubled summer but are undeterred and eager to begin their new lives on the university’s lush green campus.

Students walk back and forth in groups across the sprawling grounds, exploring landmarks and attending mandatory orientation meetings. There is almost no public trace of the incidents that shook the university and city last week, except for a purple sign in the bookstore window bearing the inscription “Heather.”

Heather refers to Heather Heyer, 32, who was killed Aug. 12 when a car slammed into a crowd of counterprotesters taking on the hundreds of white nationalists and neo-Nazis who descended upon the city to protest the removal of a Confederate statue.

Katie Zhang, 18, of Herndon, Va., says last weekend’s events “haven’t really changed how I feel about UVA.”

Her parents have begun to talk to her more about safety, she says.

Most of it has been general ad- vice one would give to any teen going to college: Be aware of your surroundings, don’t walk by yourself at night.

They also told Zhang, “If you hear about protests, don’t get involved. Stay away.”

Although most students seem comfortable about beginning school this week, University of Virginia associate professor Willis Jenkins says he and other faculty members are still trying to process what happened, while transitioning into teaching mode.

One of the most troubling things to him is that “the administration still has not yet responded to the gravity of the situation,” says Jenkins, who teaches in the Department of Religious Studies.

Tuesday, the university released a statement on behalf of its president, Teresa Sullivan, saying the school would “look for opportunities to improve our communication and coordination across the Grounds and with local law enforcement agencies.”

The statement referred faculty and students to a list of safety resources.

The Black Student Alliance at UVA plans a rally Monday on the campus grounds.

Members will march from the school’s amphitheater to the Rotunda, where more than a week ago, a band of students confronted the white nationalists during their march.

“Though you may not feel like it, you belong here,” organizers wrote to the community. “We will march to reclaim the progress that has been made by Black students, faculty, and staff toward justice over the last few decades.”

“My parents did say they wanted me to stay more alert, but they still feel great about UVA.”

Student Cynthia Okoye