Giving witness: UVa holds Day of Dialogue

The University of Virginia community gathered in the heart Grounds on Friday for a Day of Dialogue, a program designed to combat violence.

The day aimed, among other things, to help people learn how to intervene when they see people doing things that are wrong.

During discussion sections, participants contemplated community members’ responsibilities to one another.

“We were wrestling with the ambiguities,” said Kimberley Bassett, assistant dean of the Office of African-American Affairs.

For example, she said, it can be difficult to determine when exactly is the time to step in to a situation and how far, exactly, to go.

“There’s a very delicate balance, and nobody actually knows where the line is,” she said. “You have to be comfortable with that even though it’s uncomfortable.”

The day also featured a resource fair on the lower Lawn, and an installation art piece, “Lines of Darkness and Light,” by professor Sanda Iliescu.

The exhibit involved two pieces, one at each end of the Lawn. At the Rotunda, the Lawn-facing columns had been sheathed in black debris netting, like veils, Iliescu said.

The netting allowed the columns to convey both momentary sadness, and the columns’ underlying nature.

Workers had to drape and cinch the netting atop the columns without putting any nails or screws into the building. The idea of an exhibit that will return to its natural state appealed to Iliescu, she said.

“I don’t want a big monument. … I want something ephemeral,” the artist said.

At the other end of the Lawn, participants wrote a regret from the last year and a hope for the next on slips of paper, then dropped them into painted ballot boxes. The responses won’t be published, but will be kept for a year for use as inspiration by the university’s artistic community, then be destroyed, Iliescu said.

Like the day itself, Iliescu’s art was heavily influenced by the death of lacrosse player Yeardley Love, who was beaten to death last spring. Men’s lacrosse player George Huguely has been charged with murder in her death.

But other tragic losses in the last year also played into her inspiration, Iliescu said, adding that she wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to assume the mantle of memorializing Love in art.

“I wouldn’t dare call this a memorial for Yeardley Love,” she said.

And the day showcased the Get Grounded Coalition, an umbrella group working to help students intervene.

“Quite honestly, last year we had several events that shook our community and made us question whether we’re a caring, safe community,” said Will Bane, a fourth-year student and one of the group’s founders.

He said he thinks the community is caring, but can still do better.

“This is your community, and it’s great to see how strongly committed you are to making it a caring community,” UVa President Teresa A. Sullivan said.

Professor Michael Suarez, director of the university’s rare book school, called in his closing remarks for members of the UVa community to dedicate themselves to focusing not on succeeding, but on celebrating truth and beauty.

“There must be people who are brave enough to give witness,” he said.