A Foreign Language

If you've visited UVA, know someone who goes to UVA, even been on the UVA website, there was probably a moment when you stopped and said "what?!?" Maybe you went to urban dictionary trying to figure out the meaning of some unheard of term. Perhaps you came to this blog looking for an answer to these strange terms. Let me tell you, we've all been there because UVA has a lingo...let me rephrase that, a language of its own. So for the next couple of weeks I'll break down a term each week for you, to assist you with the language that you will hopefully one day call your own. 

Grounds: The University of Virginia's "campus" 

If you ever visited UVA you will never hear the word campus and if you do you will see cringing faces all around you. Thomas Jefferson wanted UVA to be an open place of learning, not limited to students and faculty, but rather an area where the community could gather together to engage in education, intelligence, and the sharing of knowledge. The term campus implies that this sharing of knowledge is limited to faculty and students so instead we refer to our campus as grounds. 

This is a simple term that will show you're a UVA expert when you come to visit if it is in your growing vocabulary.