Statement on the Trashing of Thomas Jefferson by UVA’s Vice President of Student Affairs During Graduation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Charlottesville, VA – The Jefferson Council strongly condemns Kenyon Bonner’s denigration and marginalization of Thomas Jefferson during his address at UVA’s final exercises. His remarks were incongruous, unseemly, and incorrect– and perhaps more than anything, they were an example of psychological projection. 

Most egregiously, Bonner proclaimed, “For all his brilliance, his unfounded and ethically corrosive claims about human capacity reflected his ignorance and hubris. History teaches us that ignorance precedes injustice.” To characterize Mr. Jefferson as uniquely marked by “ignorance and hubris” says less about Jefferson than it does about the speaker. It requires extraordinary hubris and profound ignorance to dismiss one of the greatest minds in the history of Western civilization as a person materially enveloped by those traits. Reducing Mr. Jefferson to such a caricature reflects an unfathomable lack of historical understanding and is nothing less than flawed ideological certainty masquerading as moral clarity.

It is a tragedy and a disgrace that UVA’s Vice President and Chief Student Affairs Officer actually felt it necessary to insult our Founder in such an atrocious fashion in front of thousands of members of the University community on such a joyous occasion.

The Jefferson Council

To learn more about The Jefferson Council, please visit https://jeffersoncouncil.org/ 

The Jefferson Council is a nonprofit organization of UVA alumni, donors, students, and faculty who are committed to preserving Thomas Jefferson’s legacy of freedom and excellence at the University of Virginia.