
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 24, 1991                   TAG: 9103240212
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D12   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium

PROPOSAL TO HANG PORTRAITS DRAWS SHARP RESPONSE

Some former and present officials at the University of Virginia voiced strong opinions about a proposal by Rector Edward Elson to hang portraits of former rectors with that of Thomas Jefferson.

Elson, in a letter to living former rectors, suggested portraits of former rectors be hung in the Rotunda along with a portrait of Jefferson, who founded the university and was its first rector.

The rector is chairman of the university's board of visitors, the school's governing body.

One of them, Fred Pollard, a former Virginia lieutenant governor and rector from 1982 to 1987, would have none of Elson's idea.

In a Feb. 28 response, Pollard wrote that hanging his portrait with Jefferson's would be impertinent, and accused Elson of self-importance.

"It would be presumptuous of me to even think of my portrait being hung in the same company with our first rector," Pollard wrote.

"I have now talked with the other four former rectors and they are all opposed - some very strongly," he wrote. "Moreover, I would be remiss not to tell you that some of these former rectors (including me) and several alumni with whom I have talked see the whole portrait idea as just a ploy by you to get your portrait hung in the Rotunda."

Elson was elected the university's 37th rector in March 1990. In October, the university's health clinic was renamed the Edward E. Elson Student Health Center in his honor after his family donated $230,000 to complete construction.

Pollard's letter sparked an equally sharp response from board member Patricia Kluge. She defended Elson in a letter she forwarded to former rectors and the board.

"I was shocked and horrified to receive a copy of your letter," Kluge wrote Pollard on March 5.

"I found its contents mean-spirited and inhuman. You obviously do not appreciate the historical significance of the election of Mr. Elson as the University's first Jewish rector under the Commonwealth's first black governor."

Elson said Thursday he suggested hanging the portraits in the Rotunda for traditional and historical reasons.

by CNB