‘Inside UVA’: Rector Clement Reflects on UVA’s Changing Nature in Presidential Podcast

October 5, 2021 By Jane Kelly, jak4g@virginia.edu Jane Kelly, jak4g@virginia.edu

Audio: Inside UVA Episode 4: Whittington W. Clement(18:04)

Transcript

When the University of Virginia’s new rector, Whittington W. Clement, first arrived at UVA as an undergraduate student in 1966, everyone wore a coat and tie.

When his class graduated four years later, everyone had long hair, he remembered.

“We had phys ed at 8 o’clock on Saturday mornings,” he told UVA President Jim Ryan in the fourth episode of Ryan’s podcast, “Inside UVA,” which is available on most podcast apps, including Apple PodcastsSpotify and Google Podcasts.

“We also had a full slate of classes on Fridays. UVA, in those days, it was really quite different than it is today,” Clement said. “I think when I entered, they only had, altogether, about 6,000 students. So, it’s quadrupled in size since then.

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Whittington W. Clement headshot
Whittington W. Clement became UVA’s 49th rector on July 1. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)

“There were no girls, which was not a good thing. Social life consisted predominantly of fraternities and road trips,” he said. “But it was a calmer time up until, however, the Vietnam War. That was a really, very difficult time.”

Clement, who on July 1 became rector of UVA’s Board of Visitors, also reflected on his new, voluntary role. A longtime supporter who has held several leadership positions at UVA over the years, Clement said, “I was very honored to have been selected” as the 49th rector of the University.

Listen to the latest episode of “Inside UVA” to learn more about Clement’s role and tune in to previous episodes to hear from UVA’s first female provost, Liz Magill and the University’s new chief student affairs officer, Robyn Hadley.

Media Contact

Jane Kelly

University News Senior Associate Office of University Communications