Editing University of Virginia (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of the University of Virginia}}

===1800s===
[[File:Gilbert Stuart Thomas Jefferson.jpg|thumb|upright=0.95|[[Thomas Jefferson]], the university's founder, by [[Gilbert Stuart]] ({{circa|1821}})]]

<!--Paragraph #1: Topic: Background, planning, context-->[[File:University of Virginia Rotunda in 2006.jpg|thumb|[[The Rotunda (University of Virginia)|The Rotunda]], as pictured from the South Lawn|left]]In 1802, while serving as president of the United States, [[Thomas Jefferson]] wrote to artist [[Charles Willson Peale]] that his concept of the new university would be "on the most extensive and liberal scale that our circumstances would call for and our faculties meet," and it might even attract talented students from "other states to come, and drink of the cup of knowledge."<ref name="Peale">Alf J. Mapp, Jr., ''Thomas Jefferson: Passionate Pilgrim'', p. 19.</ref> Virginia was already home to the [[College of William & Mary]] in Williamsburg, but Jefferson lost all confidence in his ''alma mater,'' partly because of its religious nature—it required all its students to recite a [[catechism]]—and its stifling of the sciences.<ref name="yalereview1878">''New Englander and Yale Review'', Volume 37, W. L. Kingsley, "Ought the State provide for Higher Education?", 1878, page 378.</ref><ref name="russell">Phillips Russell, ''Jefferson, Champion of the Free Mind'', p. 335.</ref> Jefferson had flourished under William & Mary professors [[William Small]] and [[George Wythe]] decades earlier, but the college was in a period of great decline and his concern became so dire by 1800 that he expressed to British chemist [[Joseph Priestley]], "we have in that State, a college just well enough endowed to draw out the miserable existence to which a miserable constitution has doomed it." These words would ring true some seventy years later when William & Mary fell bankrupt after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] and the Williamsburg college was shuttered completely in 1881, later being revived as primarily a small college for teachers until it regained university status later in the twentieth century.<ref>[https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/17228 An Act to Establish A Normal School, 5 March 1888] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905235712/https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/17228 |date=September 5, 2014 }}, accessed September 5, 2014</ref> Jefferson envisioned his new university would "be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it."<ref name="Reason">[[Dumas Malone]], ''Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of Monticello'', p. 417-418.</ref>

<!--Paragraph #2: Formal founding and construction-->
In 1817, three presidents (Jefferson, [[James Monroe]], and [[James Madison]]) and [[Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court]] [[John Marshall]] joined 24 other dignitaries at a meeting held in the Mountain Top Tavern at [[Rockfish Gap]]. After some deliberation, they selected nearby Charlottesville as the site of the new University of Virginia.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.snp.guide/p/turk-mountain-overlook-to-rockfish-gap.html |title="Guide to SNP" – Turk Mountain Overlook to Rockfish Gap |website=snp.guide |access-date=June 19, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603010939/http://www.guidetosnp.com/web/LogoftheDrive/logs6.aspx |archive-date=June 3, 2010 }}</ref> The UVA Board of Visitors purchased just outside [[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]] a farm that had once been owned by James Monroe.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/highland/ashlawn2.html |title=An Account of James Monroe's Land Holdings |access-date=December 1, 2023 |archive-date=December 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203214038/http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/highland/ashlawn2.html |url-status=live }} Research conducted for the Ash Lawn-Highland Museum and the Institute for Public History of the University of Virginia in 1998: in 1788-9 George Nicholas had sold the land to James Monroe (without a recorded deed); in 1810 Monroe's attorney sold it to George Divers to pay Monroe's creditors; in 1810 it was resold to John Nicholas; in 1814 resold again to John Perry; and in 1820 the Proctor of the University bought the land from its then-owner John Perry for the University.</ref> The Commonwealth of Virginia chartered a new flagship university to be based on the site in Charlottesville on January 25, 1819.

[[John Hartwell Cocke]] collaborated with James Madison, Monroe, and Joseph Carrington Cabell to fulfill Jefferson's dream to establish the university. Cocke and Jefferson were appointed to the building committee to supervise the construction.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dabney |first=Virginius |author-link=Virginius Dabney |url=http://repo.lib.virginia.edu:18080/fedora/get/uva-lib:179274/uva-lib-bdef:100/getFullView |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715002828/http://repo.lib.virginia.edu:18080/fedora/get/uva-lib:179274/uva-lib-bdef:100/getFullView |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 15, 2012 |title=Mr. Jefferson's University: A History |location=[[Charlottesville]] |publisher=[[University of Virginia Press]] |year=1981 |isbn=0-8139-0904-X |page=3 }}</ref> The UVA Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights is continuing to "seek opportunities to engage and acknowledge with respect that we live, learn, and work on [what once was] the territory of the [[Monacan Indian Nation]]."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://eocr.virginia.edu/monacan |title=Indigenous/UVA Relating |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=eocr.virginia.edu |date=November 2019 |publisher= |access-date= |quote='acknowledge with respect that we live, learn, and work on the traditional territory of the Monacan Indian Nation.' |archive-date=September 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926201759/https://eocr.virginia.edu/monacan |url-status=live }}</ref> Like many of its peers,<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/23/university.slavery/index.html Colleges come to terms with slave-owning pasts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009061334/http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/23/university.slavery/index.html |date=October 9, 2018 }}, accessed October 8, 2018</ref> the university owned slaves who helped build the campus.<ref name="apmreportsshackledlegacy">{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Stephen |title=Shackled Legacy: History shows slavery helped build many U.S. colleges and universities |url=https://www.apmreports.org/story/2017/09/04/shackled-legacy |access-date=June 9, 2018 |work=American Public Media |date=September 4, 2017 |quote=The university bought a number slaves to work with free black and white laborers. Slaves did all facets of the work, leveling the ground, planing the timber, quarrying the stone and firing the bricks. ... More than 100 slaves worked on campus at a given time, serving more than 600 students and faculty, records show. |archive-date=June 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615195420/https://www.apmreports.org/story/2017/09/04/shackled-legacy |url-status=live }}</ref> They also served students and professors.<ref name="apmreportsshackledlegacy" /> The university's first classes met on March 7, 1825.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bruce |first=Philip Alexander |title=History of the University of Virginia, vol. II |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924092701618 |place=New York City |publisher=Macmillan |year=1920 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316094745/https://archive.org/details/cu31924092701618 |archive-date=March 16, 2016 }}</ref>

In contrast to other universities of the day, at which one could study in either medicine, law, or divinity, the first students at the University of Virginia could study in one or several of eight independent schools – medicine, law, mathematics, chemistry, ancient languages, modern languages, natural philosophy, and moral philosophy.<ref>''Popular Science'', July 1905, "The Progress of Science"</ref> Another innovation of the new university was that higher education would be separated from religious doctrine. UVA had no divinity school, was established independently of any religious sect, and [[#Campus|the Grounds]] were planned and centered upon a library, [[Rotunda (University of Virginia)|the Rotunda]], rather than a church, distinguishing it from peer universities still primarily functioning as seminaries for one particular strain of Protestantism or another.<ref name="sem">[[Joseph J. Ellis]], ''American Sphinx'', p. 283.</ref> Jefferson opined to philosopher [[Thomas Cooper (American politician, born 1759)|Thomas Cooper]] that "a professorship of theology should have no place in our institution",<ref>“Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 7 October 1814,” Founders Online, [[National Archives and Records Administration]], https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-08-02-0007 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240115022428/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-08-02-0007 |date=January 15, 2024 }}. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 8, 1 October 1814 to 31 August 1815, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: [[Princeton University Press]], 2011, pp. 12–13.]</ref> and never has there been one. There were initially two degrees awarded by the university: ''Graduate,'' to a student who had completed the courses of one school; and ''Doctor'' to a graduate in more than one school who had shown research prowess.<ref name="1911EB">{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Virginia, University of |volume=28 |pages=125–126}}</ref>

[[File:James Madison.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|[[James Madison]] was the second rector of the University of Virginia until 1836.]]

Jefferson was intimately involved in the university to the end, hosting Sunday dinners at his [[Monticello]] home for faculty and students. Jefferson viewed the university's foundation as having such great importance and potential that he counted it among his greatest accomplishments and insisted his grave mention only his status as author of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] and [[Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom]], and father of the University of Virginia. Thus, he eschewed mention of his national accomplishments, such as the [[Louisiana Purchase]] and any other aspects of his presidency, in favor of his role with the young university.

Initially, some of the students arriving at the university matched the then-common picture of college students: wealthy, spoiled aristocrats with a sense of privilege which often led to brawling, or worse. This was a source of frustration for Jefferson, who assembled the students during the school's first year, on October 3, 1825, to criticize such behavior; but was too overcome to speak. He later spoke of this moment as "the most painful event" of his life.<ref name="bb">"[http://uvamagazine.org/articles/bad_boys Bad Boys] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229101436/http://uvamagazine.org/articles/bad_boys |date=December 29, 2016 }}", ''Virginia'', Carlos Santos</ref>

Although the frequency of such irresponsible behavior dropped after Jefferson's expression of concern, it did not die away completely. Like many universities and colleges, it experienced periodic [[student riots]], culminating in the shooting death of Professor [[John A. G. Davis]], Chairman of the Faculty, in 1840. This event, in conjunction with [[Honor system at the University of Virginia|the new UVA Honor System]] and the growing popularity of temperance and a rise in religious affiliation in society in general, seems to have resulted in a permanent change in student attitudes toward reporting the bad behavior, and thus such behavior among students that had so greatly bothered Jefferson finally vanished.<ref name="bb"/>

In the year of Jefferson's death in 1826, poet [[Edgar Allan Poe]] enrolled at the university, where he excelled in Latin.<ref>"[https://explore.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/show/rotunda/prefire/early/poe Edgar Allan Poe at the University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224183900/https://explore.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/show/rotunda/prefire/early/poe |date=February 24, 2021 }}," ''University of Virginia Library.'' 2018. Accessed May 19, 2018.</ref> The [[Raven Society]], an organization named after Poe's most famous poem, continues to maintain 13 West Range, the room Poe inhabited during the single semester he attended the university.<ref>"[https://aig.alumni.virginia.edu/raven/history-raven-society/ History of the Raven Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924123705/https://aig.alumni.virginia.edu/raven/history-raven-society/ |date=September 24, 2020 }}," ''The Raven Society,'' 2018. Accessed May 19, 2018.</ref> He left because of financial difficulties. The [[University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science|School of Engineering and Applied Science]] opened in 1836, making UVA the first comprehensive university to open an engineering school.

Unlike the majority of Southern colleges, the university was kept open throughout the Civil War, despite its state seeing more bloodshed than any other and the near 100% [[conscription]] of the [[American South]].<ref name="CivilWarTrust">[http://www.civilwar.org/education/civil-war-casualties.html Civil War Casualties by the Civil War Trust] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113041950/http://www.civilwar.org/education/civil-war-casualties.html |date=January 13, 2013 }}, accessed September 5, 2014</ref> After [[Jubal Early]]'s total loss at the [[Battle of Waynesboro, Virginia|Battle of Waynesboro]], Charlottesville was willingly surrendered to Union forces to avoid mass bloodshed, and UVA faculty convinced [[George Armstrong Custer]] to preserve Jefferson's university.<ref>[http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Charlottesville_During_the_Civil_War Charlottesville During the Civil War] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906043011/http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Charlottesville_During_the_Civil_War |date=September 6, 2014 }}, accessed September 5, 2014</ref> Although [[Union Army|Union troops]] camped on the Lawn and damaged many of the Pavilions, Custer's men left four days later without bloodshed and the university was able to return to its educational mission. However, an extremely high number of officers of both Confederacy and Union were alumni.<ref name="1913alumninews">''University of Virginia Alumni News'', Volume II, Issue 7, page 74, December 10, 1913. Accessed September 5, 2014</ref> UVA produced 1,481 officers in the [[Confederate Army]] alone, including four major-generals, twenty-one brigadier-generals, and sixty-seven colonels from ten different states.<ref name="1913alumninews" /> [[John S. Mosby]], the infamous "Gray Ghost" and commander of the lightning-fast [[43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry]] ranger unit, had also been a UVA student.

{{AmCyc Poster|Virginia, University of|UVA's 16 schools in operation as of 1879}}

Thanks to a grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia, tuition became free for all Virginians in the year 1875.<ref name="AmCyc">See wikisource link to the right</ref> During this period, the University of Virginia remained unique in that it had no president and mandated no [[core curriculum]] from its students, who often studied in and took degrees from more than one school.<ref name="AmCyc" /> However, the university was also experiencing growing pains. As the original [[The Rotunda (University of Virginia)|Rotunda]] caught fire and [[#Academical Village|was gutted]] in 1895, there would soon be sweeping changes, much greater than merely reconstructing the Rotunda in 1899.

===1900s===
<!--topic:President-->
[[File:Alderman 1920.jpg|thumb|upright=0.70|[[Edwin Alderman]] was UVA's first president between 1904 and 1931 and instituted many reforms toward modernization.]]
{{Wikisource|1=Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_67/July_1905/The_Progress_of_Science|2=July 1905 ''Popular Science'' article about UVA taking a President}}

Jefferson had originally decided the University of Virginia would have no serving president. Rather, this power was to be shared by a rector and the [[Board of Visitors]]. But as the 19th century waned, it became obvious this cumbersome arrangement was incapable of adequately handling the many administrative and fundraising tasks of the growing university.<ref name="EVAlderman">Encyclopedia Virginia [http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Alderman_Edwin_Anderson_1861-1931 President Edwin Alderman] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111228003042/http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Alderman_Edwin_Anderson_1861-1931 |date=December 28, 2011 }} "By the turn of the 20th century the administrative affairs had grown to such an extent that the old form of government became too cumbersome. The appointment of Alderman brought a new era of progressivism to the university and service to Virginia." Retrieved January 25, 2012</ref> [[Edwin Alderman]], who had only recently moved from his post as president of [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|UNC-Chapel Hill]] since 1896 to become president of [[Tulane University]] in 1900, accepted an offer as president of the University of Virginia in 1904. His appointment was not without controversy, and national media such as ''[[Popular Science]]'' lamented the end of one of the things that made UVA unique among universities.<ref>''Popular Science'', July 1905 Volume 67, "The Progress of Science"</ref>

Alderman stayed 27 years, and became known as a prolific fund-raiser, a well-known orator, and a close adviser to U.S. president and UVA alumnus [[Woodrow Wilson]].<ref name="EVAlderman" /> He added significantly to the University Hospital to support new sickbeds and public health research, and helped create departments of geology and forestry, the [[University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development|School of Education and Human Development]] (originally the Curry School of Education), the [[McIntire School of Commerce]], and the summer school programs in which young [[Georgia O'Keeffe]] took part.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bruce |first=Philip Alexander |author-link=Philip Alexander Bruce |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i68VAAAAIAAJ&q=edwin+alderman+philip+bruce&pg=PA45 |title=The History of the University of Virginia: The Lengthening Shadow of One Man |year=1921 |volume=V |location=New York |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing|Macmillan]] |access-date=October 15, 2020 |archive-date=October 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017041108/https://books.google.com/books?id=i68VAAAAIAAJ&q=edwin+alderman+philip+bruce&pg=PA45 |url-status=live }}</ref> Perhaps his greatest ambition was the funding and construction of a library on a scale of millions of books, much larger than the Rotunda could bear. Delayed by the [[Great Depression]], Alderman Library was named in his honor in 1938. Alderman, who seven years earlier had died in office en route to giving a public speech at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]], is still the longest-tenured president of the university.

In 1904, UVA became the first university south of Washington, D.C. to be elected to the [[Association of American Universities]]. After a gift by [[Andrew Carnegie]] in 1909 the University of Virginia was organized into twenty-six departments across six schools including the [[University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science|Andrew Carnegie School of Engineering]], the [[University of Virginia School of Law|James Madison School of Law]], the [[James Monroe]] School of International Law, the [[James Southall Wilson|James Wilson]] School of Political Economy, the [[Edgar Allan Poe]] School of English and the [[University of Virginia Medical School|Walter Reed School of Pathology]].<ref name="1911EB" /> The honorific historical names for these schools – several of which have remained as modern [[#Organization and administration|schools of the university]] – are no longer used.

In December 1953, the University of Virginia joined the [[Atlantic Coast Conference]] for athletics. At the time, UVA had a football program that had just broken through to be nationally ranked in 1950, 1951, and 1952, and consistently beat its rivals North Carolina and Virginia Tech by scores such as 34–7 and 44–0. Other sports were very competitive as well. However, the administration of [[Colgate Darden]] de-emphasized athletics, defunding the department and declining to join the ACC before being overruled by the Board of Visitors on that decision. It would take until the 1980s for the bulk of athletics programs to fully recover but approaching the year 2000 UVA was again one of the [[#Athletics|most successful all-around sports programs]] with NCAA national titles achieved in an array of different sports; by 2020, it had twice won the [[Capital One Cup (college sports)|Capital One Cup]] for overall athletics excellence in men's sports programs.

UVA established a [[junior college]] in 1954, known today as the [[University of Virginia's College at Wise]]. [[George Mason University]] and [[Mary Washington University]] used to similarly exist as UVA's [[satellite campus]]es, but those are now wholly independent universities no longer administered by the University of Virginia.

The [[#Academical Village|Academical Village]] and nearby [[Monticello]] became a joint [[World Heritage Site]] in 1987. Simultaneously with [[Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park]] and [[Chaco Culture National Historical Park]], they were the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth U.S. sites designated as culturally significant to the collective interests of global humanity, coming after the [[Statue of Liberty]] and [[Yosemite National Park]] three years earlier. As such, UVA possesses the only U.S. collegiate grounds to be internationally protected by the [[United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization]] (UNESCO).

==== Integration, coeducation, and student dissent ====
The University of Virginia first admitted a few selected women to graduate studies in the late 1890s and to certain programs such as nursing and education in the 1920s and 1930s.<ref name="Breaking and Making Tradition">{{cite web |url=http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/women/coeducation1.htmlhttp:// |title=Breaking and Making Tradition: Women at U VA |publisher=University of Virginia Library |access-date=September 14, 2012 |archive-date=October 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017041614/https://www.library.virginia.edu/exhibitions/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1944, [[University of Mary Washington|Mary Washington College]] in [[Fredericksburg, Virginia]], became the Women's Undergraduate Arts and Sciences Division of the University of Virginia. With this branch campus in Fredericksburg exclusively for women, UVA maintained its main campus in Charlottesville as near-exclusively for men, until a civil rights lawsuit in the 1960s forced it to commingle the sexes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.virginia.edu/woodson/projects/kenan/home.html|title=Storming the Gates of Knowledge: A Documentary History of Desegregation and Coeducation in Jefferson's Academical Village|author=Priya N. Parker|date=2004|access-date=May 9, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054418/http://www.virginia.edu/woodson/projects/kenan/home.html|archive-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref> In 1970, the Charlottesville campus became fully co-educational, and in 1972 Mary Washington became an independent state university.<ref>{{cite book
| last      = Alvey
| first     = Edward
| title     = History of Mary Washington College 1908–1972
| publisher = University of Virginia Press
| year      = 1974
| pages     = 278, 511
| isbn      = 978-0-8139-0528-0}}</ref> When the first female class arrived, 450 undergraduate women entered UVA, comprising 39 percent of undergraduates, while the number of men admitted remained constant. By 1999, women made up a 52 percent majority of the total student body.<ref name="Breaking and Making Tradition" /><ref name="enrollmentdata">[http://avillage.web.virginia.edu/iaas/instreports/studat/hist/enroll/year_by_gender.htm Historical Enrollment Data] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907051621/http://avillage.web.virginia.edu/iaas/instreports/studat/hist/enroll/year_by_gender.htm |date=September 7, 2014 }}, accessed September 6, 2014</ref>

The university admitted its first black student when Gregory Swanson sued to gain entrance into the university's law school in 1950.<ref name="Road to Desegregation">{{cite web|url=http://www.virginia.edu/100yearslawn/HarrisonI/Road.htmlhttp://|title=The Road to Desegregation: Jackson, NAACP, and Swanson|access-date=September 14, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021195347/http://www.virginia.edu/100yearslawn/HarrisonI/Road.html|archive-date=October 21, 2012}}</ref> Following his successful lawsuit, a handful of black graduate and professional students were admitted during the 1950s, though no black undergraduates were admitted until 1955, and UVA did not fully integrate until the 1960s.<ref name = "Road to Desegregation"/> When Walter Ridley graduated with a doctorate in education, he was the first black person to graduate from UVA.<ref name="Road to Desegregation" /> UVA's Ridley Scholarship Fund is named in his honor.<ref name="Road to Desegregation" />

The fight for integration and coeducation came to the foreground particularly in the late 1960s, leading up to the [[Student strike of 1970|May Strike of 1970]], in which students protested for higher black enrollment, equal access to UVA admission by undergraduate women, unionization of employees, and against the presence of armed university police and recruiters of government agencies such as the [[CIA]] and [[FBI]] on Grounds.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=May 21, 1970|title=President Shannon Met with STudent Council Tuesday Night|journal=The Sally Hemings|volume=1|issue=16|pages=1–2}}</ref>

===21st century===
[[File:Secretary Kerry Walks With UVA President Sullivan.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Teresa A. Sullivan|President Sullivan]] speaking with U.S. Secretary of State [[John Kerry]] in front of [[The Rotunda (University of Virginia)|the Rotunda]] in February 2013]]

Due to a continual decline in state funding for the university, today only 6 percent of its budget comes from the Commonwealth of Virginia.<ref name="CDstate" /> A Charter initiative was signed into law by then-[[Governor of Virginia|Governor]] [[Mark Warner]] in 2005, negotiated with the university to have greater autonomy over its own affairs in exchange for accepting this [[#State support|decline in financial support]].<ref name="Virginia restructuring">{{cite web |url=http://www.virginia.edu/restructuring/legislation.html |title=Legislation |work=Restructuring Higher Education |publisher=University of Virginia |access-date=May 22, 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708232040/http://www.virginia.edu/restructuring/legislation.html |archive-date=July 8, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="Virginia restructuring FAQ">{{cite web |url=http://www.virginia.edu/restructuring/legislation.html |title=Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) |work=Restructuring Higher Education |publisher=University of Virginia |access-date=May 22, 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708232040/http://www.virginia.edu/restructuring/legislation.html |archive-date=July 8, 2008 }}</ref>

The university welcomed [[Teresa A. Sullivan]] as its first female president in 2010.<ref>de Vise, Daniel, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011803847.html "Teresa Sullivan Is First Female President to Lead University of Virginia"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111204051/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011803847.html |date=November 11, 2012 }} ''Washington Post'', January 19, 2010.</ref> Just two years later its first woman rector, [[Helen Dragas]], engineered a forced-resignation to remove President Sullivan from office.<ref name="Anatomy of a Campus Coup">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/magazine/teresa-sullivan-uva-ouster.html?pagewanted=all |title=Anatomy of a Campus Coup |author=Rice, Andrew |date=September 11, 2012 |newspaper=New York Times |access-date=September 17, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120917014658/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/magazine/teresa-sullivan-uva-ouster.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=September 17, 2012 }}</ref><ref>''The Hook'', a Charlottesville weekly, posted a series of articles detailing events as they occurred, collected at {{cite news |author=Hawes Spencer |title=The Ousting of a President |url=http://www.readthehook.com/special/ousting-president |work=[[The Hook (newspaper)|The Hook]] |access-date=November 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141113192401/http://www.readthehook.com/special/ousting-president |archive-date=November 13, 2014 }}(2012–13)</ref> The attempted ouster elicited a faculty Senate vote of no confidence in Rector Dragas, and demands from student government for an explanation.<ref>{{cite news |author=Daily Progress Staff |title=UVa Faculty Senate issues vote of no confidence in rector, Board of Visitors |url=http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/uva-faculty-senate-issues-vote-of-no-confidence-in-rector/article_456d9a37-0930-5be6-9b95-8c47947cdcf3.html |work=[[The Daily Progress]] |date=June 14, 2012 |access-date=May 22, 2013 |archive-date=October 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022050639/https://dailyprogress.com/news/uva-faculty-senate-issues-vote-of-no-confidence-in-rector/article_456d9a37-0930-5be6-9b95-8c47947cdcf3.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=StudentCouncilReaction>{{cite web|url=http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/jun/15/uva-student-council-seeks-full-explanation-ouster-ar-1990754/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130205004958/http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/jun/15/uva-student-council-seeks-full-explanation-ouster-ar-1990754/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 5, 2013 |title=U.Va. Student Council seeks full explanation of ouster |author=Karin Kapsidelis |publisher=[[Richmond Times-Dispatch]] |date=June 15, 2012 |access-date=June 19, 2012 }}</ref> In the face of mounting pressure including alumni threats to cease contributions, and a mandate from then-Governor [[Robert McDonnell]] to resolve the issue or face removal of the entire Board of Visitors, the board unanimously reinstated President Sullivan.<ref>{{cite news |title=Alumni Pledge Thousands in Donations Following Sullivan's Reinstatement |url=http://www.newsplex.com/unsettledgrounds/headlines/160629985.html?site=full |work=Newsplex.com |date=June 28, 2012 |access-date=May 22, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629235131/http://www.newsplex.com/unsettledgrounds/headlines/160629985.html?site=full |archive-date=June 29, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/u-va-dean-tapped-for-interim-president-suspends-discussions-about-new-job/2012/06/22/gJQAniQ0uV_story.html|title=McDonnell tells U-Va. board to resolve leadership crisis, or he will remove members|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|author1=Anita Kumar|author2=Jenna Johnson|name-list-style=amp|date=June 22, 2012|access-date=June 26, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623120343/http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/u-va-dean-tapped-for-interim-president-suspends-discussions-about-new-job/2012/06/22/gJQAniQ0uV_story.html|archive-date=June 23, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Virginia-Board-Votes-to/132603/ |title=U. of Virginia Board Votes to Reinstate Sullivan |author1=Sara Hebel |author2=Jack Stripling |author3=Robin Wilson |name-list-style=amp |newspaper=[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]] |date=June 26, 2012 |access-date=June 26, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628061626/http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Virginia-Board-Votes-to/132603/ |archive-date=June 28, 2012 }}</ref> In 2013 and 2014, the board passed new bylaws that made it harder to remove a president and possible to remove a rector.<ref>[http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2014/09/board-to-vote-on-rector-removal-clause Board to Vote on Rector Removal Clause] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908085642/http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2014/09/board-to-vote-on-rector-removal-clause |date=September 8, 2014 }}, accessed September 8, 2014</ref>

In November 2014, the university suspended fraternity and sorority functions pending investigation of [[A Rape on Campus|an article]] by ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' concerning an alleged rape story, which was later determined to be a [[hoax]] after the story was confirmed to be false through investigation by ''[[The Washington Post]]''.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/11/09/phi-psi-chapter-at-u-va-files-25-million-lawsuit-against-rolling-stone/ Phi Psi Files $25 million Lawsuit Against Rolling Stone] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601154120/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/11/09/phi-psi-chapter-at-u-va-files-25-million-lawsuit-against-rolling-stone/ |date=June 1, 2016 }}, accessed February 19, 2016</ref><ref name=OTM>{{cite web|title=SPECIAL: The UVA Story|url=http://www.onthemedia.org/story/special-uva-story/transcript/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141207085956/http://www.onthemedia.org/story/special-uva-story/transcript/|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 7, 2014|publisher=[[On the Media]]|access-date=December 7, 2014|date=December 6, 2014}}</ref><ref>[http://reason.com/blog/2016/02/10/the-lies-of-uvas-jackie-read-all-the-cat The Lies of UVA's Jackie: Read All the Catfishing Texts] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024163558/http://reason.com/blog/2016/02/10/the-lies-of-uvas-jackie-read-all-the-cat |date=October 24, 2016 }}, accessed February 19, 2016</ref> The university nonetheless instituted new rules banning "pre-mixed drinks, punches or any other common source of alcohol" such as beer kegs and requiring "sober and lucid" fraternity members to monitor all parties.<ref name="The_Washington_Post_January_7_2015c">{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/new-safety-rules-announced-for-fraternities-at-u-va-a-response-to-rolling-stone-uproar/2015/01/06/5ae2188a-95e0-11e4-927a-4fa2638cd1b0_story.html?hpid=z4 |title=New safety rules announced for University of Virginia fraternity parties |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 7, 2015 |author=Nick Anderson |access-date=January 7, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402133425/http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/new-safety-rules-announced-for-fraternities-at-u-va-a-response-to-rolling-stone-uproar/2015/01/06/5ae2188a-95e0-11e4-927a-4fa2638cd1b0_story.html?hpid=z4 |archive-date=April 2, 2015 }}</ref> In April 2015, ''Rolling Stone'' fully retracted the article after the [[Columbia School of Journalism]] released a scathing and discrediting report on the "anatomy of a journalistic failure" by its author.<ref name="Somaiya April">{{cite news|last1=Somaiya|first1=Ravi|title=Rolling Stone Retracts Article on Rape at University of Virginia|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/business/media/rolling-stone-retracts-article-on-rape-at-university-of-virginia.html?_r=0|website=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 5, 2015|date=April 5, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407055843/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/business/media/rolling-stone-retracts-article-on-rape-at-university-of-virginia.html?_r=0|archive-date=April 7, 2015}}</ref><ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-what-went-wrong-20150405 A Rape on Campus: What Went Wrong] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150406000123/http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-what-went-wrong-20150405 |date=April 6, 2015 }}, accessed April 8, 2015</ref> Even before release of the Columbia University report, the ''Rolling Stone'' story was named the "Error of the Year" by the [[Poynter Institute]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/306801/the-year-in-media-errors-and-corrections-2014/ |title=The year in media errors and corrections 2014 |publisher=Poynter.org |access-date=March 14, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315015756/http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/306801/the-year-in-media-errors-and-corrections-2014/ |archive-date=March 15, 2015 }}</ref> The UVA chapter of [[Phi Kappa Psi]] settled a defamation suit against ''Rolling Stone'' and received $1.65&nbsp;million.<ref>T. Rees Shapiro, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/fraternity-chapter-at-u-va-to-settle-suit-against-rolling-stone-for-165-million/2017/06/13/35012b46-503d-11e7-91eb-9611861a988f_story.html Fraternity chapter at U-Va. to settle suit against Rolling Stone for $1.65 million] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829075807/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/fraternity-chapter-at-u-va-to-settle-suit-against-rolling-stone-for-165-million/2017/06/13/35012b46-503d-11e7-91eb-9611861a988f_story.html |date=August 29, 2017 }}, ''Washington Post'' (June 13, 2017).</ref>

In August 2017, the night before the infamous [[Unite the Right rally]], a group of non-student and mostly non-Virginian [[White nationalism|white nationalists]] marched on the university's [[The Lawn|Lawn]] bearing torches and chanting [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] and [[Nazism|Nazi]] slogans after the city of [[Charlottesville]] decided to remove all remaining [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] statues from the city including one depicting [[Robert E. Lee]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/us/white-nationalists-rally-charlottesville-virginia.html|title=White Nationalists March on University of Virginia|last1=Spencer|first1=Hawes|date=August 11, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 6, 2019|last2=Stolberg|first2=Sheryl Gay|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=August 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812060924/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/us/white-nationalists-rally-charlottesville-virginia.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/white-nationalists-march-uva-torches-article-1.3404681|title=Brawls erupt as torch-wielding white supremacists march through University of Virginia campus (VIDEO)|last=Chia|first=Jessica|website=nydailynews.com|date=August 12, 2017 |access-date=April 6, 2019|archive-date=April 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406020727/https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/white-nationalists-march-uva-torches-article-1.3404681|url-status=live}}</ref> They were met by student counter-protesters near the statue of [[Thomas Jefferson]] in front of the Rotunda, where a fight broke out.

[[James E. Ryan (educator)|James E. Ryan]], a graduate of the [[University of Virginia School of Law]], became the university's ninth president in August 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.virginia.edu/content/james-e-ryan-ninth-president-university-virginia-takes-office-today |title=James E. Ryan, Ninth President of University of Virginia, Takes Office Today |last=McCance |first=McGregor |date=August 1, 2018 |access-date=August 1, 2018 |archive-date=May 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501161047/https://news.virginia.edu/content/james-e-ryan-ninth-president-university-virginia-takes-office-today |url-status=live }}</ref> His first act upon his inauguration was to announce that in-state undergraduates from families making less than $80,000 per year would receive full scholarships covering tuition, and those from families making under $30,000 would also receive free room and board.<ref name="VAfree">{{cite web |last1= |first1= |date=2025 |title=Affording UVA |url=https://www.virginia.edu/life/affordinguva/#:~:text=UVA%20will%20cover%20the%20cost%20of%20tuition%20and%20fees%20to,with%20income%20less%20than%20%24150%2C000. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429025227/https://www.businessinsider.com/university-of-virginia-tuition-will-be-free-for-students-whose-families-earn-less-than-80000-2018-10 |archive-date=April 29, 2019 |access-date=February 16, 2025 |website=Virginia.edu}}</ref> Ryan was previously dean of the [[Harvard Graduate School of Education|Harvard School of Education]].

On the night of November 13, 2022, three students were killed and two others injured in [[2022 University of Virginia shooting|a shooting]] on a [[Bus#Private charter|charter bus]] that was returning to the campus from a play for a class trip in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/11/14/1136423019/uva-student-shooting-charlottesville-virginia |title=3 people are dead and the gunman is at large in a University of Virginia shooting |work=NPR |date=November 14, 2022 |access-date=November 14, 2022 |archive-date=November 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114160032/https://www.npr.org/2022/11/14/1136423019/uva-student-shooting-charlottesville-virginia |url-status=live }}</ref> All three fatalities were current members of the [[Virginia Cavaliers football]] team<ref>{{cite news|first=Emily|last=Shapiro|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/university-virginia-mass-shooting-football-players-killed/story?id=93266643|title=University of Virginia mass shooting: What we know about the 3 football players killed|publisher=ABC News|date=November 14, 2022|accessdate=November 14, 2022|archive-date=November 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114170143/https://abcnews.go.com/US/university-virginia-mass-shooting-football-players-killed/story?id=93266643|url-status=live}}</ref> and the alleged shooter was briefly a member of the team during the 2018 season.<ref>{{Cite news |title=UVA shooting suspect is in custody; three students killed were on football team, officials say |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/3-dead-2-injured-shooting-university-virginia-rcna57004 |access-date=2022-11-14 |website=NBC News |language=en |archive-date=November 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114094948/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/3-dead-2-injured-shooting-university-virginia-rcna57004 |url-status=live }}</ref>