The University of Virginia is clamoring for more safe spaces, locations on campus where individuals and identity groups can “feel validated and…build community.” In an atmosphere like that, imagine how disturbing the thought of holding a Veterans Day observance must be. Especially one that involves gunfire.
That could have caused some of UVA’s less hearty undergrads to run for the nearest cry closet. But don’t worry, Cavaliers, because this year’s 21-gun salute has been eliminated from the Veterans Day ceremony. Because gun violence.
As the College Fix reports . . .
…the annual ceremony “marks the conclusion of a 24-hour vigil by ROTC cadets and has included the 21-gun salute for more than a decade,” but the decision to nix the salute was made by the provost’s office in conjunction with the colonel of UVA’s ROTC program.
The decision, however, hasn’t been met with universal approval.
As a @UVA #UVA student veteran, thank you for marginalizing my community. That is a direct, unmitigated slap in the face to those of us who have served, and especially to those of us who have served and lost. I am deeply sorry that you decided to make this incorrect decision.
— Arthfach (@arthfach) November 10, 2019
UVA president Jim Ryan explained the decision this way . . .
As Ryan’s statement makes clear, this year’s ceremony will be gunfire free. But the powers that be on campus pledge to revisit the question before next November to see if there’s a way to reincorporate the salute without causing undue or irreparable psychic damage to the school’s 21,000 students.