How has Southern Virgina University changed the Buena Vista area? I mean it's not like this area was similar to Utah before SVU became an LDS college (which I realize it technically is not, but for all intents and purposes it is an LDS college ). Has this town turned into sort of a mini-Utah of the East Coast since it's not all that large to begin with, or is Buena Vista still "normal" once you step off campus?
Not all that close to any large city - Roanoke is probably the closest, but BV is many miles up the interstate from it. BV has only 6 or 7 thousand people. However, SVU now has enough enrollment that the first stake just for SVU students was created a couple of weeks ago.
It's not exactly a large school-- like less than a thousand students-- so the Mormon influence isn't noticeable off campus. The south is not really a region that is going to be taken over by Mormons.
My mom grew up in Buena Vista and actually went to Southern Seminary, which is what SVU was before a bunch of Mormon businessmen took it over. I went to Longwood College (now university) and actually knew the wife of one of SVU's administrators before the school was taken over. They had moved to Farmville, VA so he could run the local hospital and she had joined the college's choral ensemble, of which I was also a member.
I still have a lot of relatives who live near Buena Vista-- my dad's side of the family is from Natural Bridge, which is about ten miles away. And until recently, several relatives worked at Virginia Military Institute, which is where my dad went to college.
SVU has indeed brought a lot of Mormons to the BV area. My aunt said quite a few Mormons have gotten jobs at VMI. My husband and I went to a Hardees in Buena Vista and had the worst cup of coffee either of us had ever had!
In all seriousness, though, there has been some friction and it has had an effect on the community. I remember reading a newspaper article about how the locals, most of whom are protestant Scots-Irish mountain folks, are dealing with all the Mormons. Most of the people in that town have been there for many years and don't know anything about Mormonism.
There is a huge stake center as you drive into town that was built less than 15 years ago. Funnily enough, there's also a building near BV that is shaped like a coffee pot. It used to be a diner and, I think, now is a place where people can rent kayaks to go out on the Maury River. There was a rumor that the Mormons wanted to buy the building and tear it down. To my knowledge, though, it's still standing!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2012 07:29AM by knotheadusc.
My daughter ALMOST picked Longwood to go to in the fall. We made 3 trips down there to check it out. I fell in love with it. She got accepted there and even some scholarship money offered, but they offered her a better deal at George Mason. Mason also had a lot more choices of majors in her interest area (computers and science).
I would live at Longwood in a minute! Such a nice place and such nice people!
Longwood was not my first choice. I wanted to go to JMU! But I ended up really liking Longwood and did very well there. Even twenty years later, I still have many Longwood friends. It has a very friendly, close-knit campus. All of my professors knew my name. Years later, my old adviser helped me join the Peace Corps and go to grad school. I remember visiting campus several years after I graduated and several professors still remembered who I was.
I also found out I have musical talent when I was at Longwood. I had to take an arts class for my degree and chose a voice class. I was good at it and ended up taking voice lessons and singing in the choir my whole time at Longwood, which led to some exciting travel opportunities and the ability to register for classes early. I remember being disappointed about going to Longwood, but it really turned out to be a great choice for me.
Oddly enough, when I was a little kid in the 1970s, my parents moved to the neighborhood right across from George Mason. I literally used to live in the neighborhood behind University Mall and used to walk over there and pick up money back bottles! And just to keep things topical, there was an LDS chapel about two or three houses away from where we lived. I considered going to Mason, too, ended up not applying there because all the application fees were getting expensive. In retrospect, maybe I should have.
Your daughter may be better off at Mason in terms of finding a job and, you're right, it does offer more choices. But Longwood is definitely a very charming place. It's a great school, especially for those who want a liberal arts education.
I didn't join any of the social sororities. Greek life was huge at Longwood, though, and seems like every organization had a Greek fraternity associated with it. It was hard not to join at least one club with Greek letters. I ended up joining an honorary music fraternity for women, Sigma Alpha Iota.
A lot of my friends went Greek and it would have probably been a neat thing to be in the alpha chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha, Sigma Sigma Sigma, Alpha Sigma Alpha, or Kappa Delta. One of my aunts was a ZTA and also graduated from Longwood. Unfortunately, ZTA ended up having to close their alpha chapter at Longwood because of hazing.
I didn't go Greek for several reasons. It was too expensive. I don't like having my time eaten up with mandatory activities and money eaten up by mandatory expenses. I would have had to wear an ugly jumper. I hate fundraisers, and I didn't buy the idea that being in a sorority would improve my career. I also was a bit self-conscious about the whole rush thing... afraid I wouldn't get into the group I wanted. There was one sorority on campus that wasn't the coolest and I figured that would be the group I would have been stuck with. Now that I'm older, though, I realize that if I had rushed, I probably would have gotten into that uncool group and LOVED it. A lot of those women are still my friends today. One of them was my little sister in SAI (which she could join because SAI wasn't a "social" sorority). Shows you how dumb 18 year olds can be!
But yeah, the Greek system is a big deal at Longwood.
I didn't join a social sorority either. It wasn't a big part of the culture of my school. But I did rush and I had friends in various chapters. Looking back, I should have pursued the process further, but hindsight is 20/20.
To tell you the truth, I didn't even know what the Greek system was when I got to Longwood. I sure learned quickly, though. My first semester freshman roommate ended up pledging Kappa Delta. I almost felt like I was pledging with her with all the stuff that went on!
It is just down the road from two very prestigious Virginia Colleges, VMI and Washington and Lee.
Virginia has LOTS of colleges. Before the Mormons took over that little school was a girls' finishing school.
As you can imagine, the natives were pretty suspicious when the Mormons stepped in.
But things have smoothed over. The students have mandatory community service as part of their curriculum.
I think most people agree that the area is a better place to live because of the Mormon presence.
I don't think the school is church-owned. I believe it is privately owned, but the people who own it are Mormon.
When I find out more, I'll let you know. The article in the paper (Roanoke Times) appeared several years ago, but the gist of it was that after some initial misgivings (this is Jerry Fallwell country) the students and the community get along just fine.
SPEAKING OF JERRY FALWELL, his Liberty University (complete with Law School) is again, just down the road (literally) from Buena Vista.
I hear he used BY as his personal model and BYU as a model for his school.
As BYU is to the Mormons, so did he wish Liberty Universty to be to the fundamental Christians.
Southern Seminary was a junior college for women and at one time had a high school attached to it. I wouldn't necessarily call it a "finishing school", though. Maybe I would have described it that way in the 50s, when my mom went there as a day student. She got free tuition for playing piano for the glee club!
When I was looking at colleges, I was thinking about attending Sem because it had an excellent equestrian program and I was really into horses. At that time, circa 1990, it was mostly a two year school with programs that fed into Virginia public colleges and universities. They did have a couple of highly regarded three year programs relating to horses.
Before the Mormon businessmen took over Sem, they briefly went co-ed. They were trying very hard to save the school. I remember the letters my mom got pleading for donations. Sem also used to be where guys from VMI or W&L would go to find dates. There was a time when Sem ladies also served as VMI cheerleaders, since VMI was all men until the 1990s. My parents went to Sem and VMI, though that's not where they met.
I ended up not going to Sem for several reasons. First of all, I didn't like the single sex environment. It was significantly more expensive than going to a public college would be. And I also didn't feel like it would challenge me academically. There was a lot to like about Sem, though... I remember walking through the barn, which is now a big basketball court, and seeing all the horses. In retrospect, I probably would have enjoyed going there. I think Buena Vista is a really cute town. I still like driving through there when I visit my relatives in Natural Bridge.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2012 07:48AM by knotheadusc.
It's a very small private junior college -- just one building where they live and go to school. At least that's how it was when my brother was there. It was very expensive too.
I live in Buena Vista and I can emphatically say that all is not rainbows and butterflies. Matter of fact, it was the growing LDS influence in the community that initially led me to seek out information here at RFM.
Much of what I see described on here, I witness on a daily basis: LDS only patronizing other LDS businesses, youth being told in seminary to limit their contact with non-LDS, teachers' curriculum being micro-managed for "appropriateness," complaints about R-rated movies being shown at local theatre, etc.
While there is a large pool of volunteers due to SVU community service requirements, most all of my experience with the volunteers has involved either a thinly-veiled attempt to "witness" to me, or an attempt to share with me their vast knowledge and expertise in my field, a field in which I have 20+ years of experience.
I believe that initially the community welcomed the SVU community because most people thought that it would have a positive impact on our sagging economy. However, that has not turned out to be the case.
So I must respectfully disagree with the above poster who said that most people think the place is a better place to live because of the Mormon presence. I see many young people graduating and leaving the area, vowing to never return BECAUSE of the LDS presence, and I am seriously considering early retirement so I can relocate.
Good info from one who is there. I would move too if that is what is happening. How sad. No one needs to be witnessed to by cult members. Just glad it is a small school.
This is the impression I got from my aunt and uncle. They don't live in BV, but since they are only 10 miles away, they see what has happened. I have been coming to the area to visit family my whole life and have seen how it's changed. From my observations, Mormons are kind of like kudzu. They come in and it looks good, but then they take over! They get involved in politics and start trying to change the local culture. I've heard they've started infiltrating Lexington, too. Lexington is an adorable town very close to my heart. I got married at VMI. I'd hate to see it become Mormonized.
Seems to me, I remember Buena Vista had an ABC store. My uncle worked there and at the one in Lexington. If I recall correctly, it went when the Mormons came in. Of course, Buena Vista has suffered some pretty devastating economic trials and there was a big flood there.
Before I met my exmo husband, I actually applied for a job at SVU. This was right when they first took over, in 1998 or so... I remember having a phone interview and realizing it would not be a good fit. Now I realize if I had worked at SVU, I would have become a conversion project.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2012 10:57AM by knotheadusc.
I can't imagine they'd close an ABC store because one private college didn't like it. And in a community of 8000 wouldn't that be able to support an ABC store?
Sure... But I'm sure they decide to open and close ABC stores based on business. Business declined in the Buena Vista area because after the influx of Mormons, quite a large number of people in the local populace didn't patronize the store. That's not to say it's necessarily a bad thing... It was just one thing that happened.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2012 02:55PM by knotheadusc.
I know that many educators stopped shopping in the Buena Vista ABC store for fear that they would be consequences if they were seen. And we all know that if the Mormon parents all ban together and start complaining, whether or not the complaints are valid, there would be consequences. I suspect that many business owners did the same. It was just easier to drive the few miles to the nearby Lexington store and fly under the radar of the "morality police."
That's what is so sad about Mormons taking over... People are surely grateful for the renewed business and the influx of new blood, but they are paying a price for it. This is why I would never vote for Mitt or any other overtly religious person. I have observed what happens when Mormons get in power. They are not content to live and let live. They have to change the culture and turn religious beliefs into public policy for everyone.
In VA, the state has a monopoly on liquor sales and sells it through Alcoholic Beverage Control stores. Makes VA a fortune. Still think its easier in MD, though... our little island grocery store can sell hard liquor :-p
I went to a womens conference there back in 2007? It is right at the base of the mountains, campus sits on a nice hill. Old dorms didn't have a/c in them then - beleive me you need them in the summer in virginia. Thought I was going to die! It is a pretty, small campus. I think the Knights are/were the President and main backer. They were encouraging local businessman to invest in it. Salt Lake was holding off to see how financially sound it was and they talked about it being the Y of the east. Knew several people that bought real estate to rent out to students. I'm sure they lost their shirts in this market. Pretty area, yes there is kayaking right up the road.
My mom graduated from Southern Seminary in the 1920's and then went to George Washington University to study law. She passed away in 1959, but I remember how much she loved the school and the Blue Ridge mountains. I have one of her original report cards (A's and B's). I also have a nice class picture of the young women all together in the garden. I miss her very much.
The farce of the BYU's is their sectarian "honor code". They mock the term "university". They are 97% LDS, almost totally homogenous. Mormons have to be active in the church, and their activity is monitored by their bishop who supplies the school with an "ecclesiastical endorsement". If you lose this endorsement, you can lose all the credits you earned and paid for.
BYU apologists will say "then don't go there if you don't like the honor code".
OK I certainly won't. But, BYU and the LDS church use predatory recruitment practices. They lure people in with false pretenses. They coax you into making "covenants" and signing "honor codes" on less than fully informed and fully consentual terms. Students who sign the "honor code" have been duped. They think the honor code: 1) Is from God, even though it is grossly unjust and unfair 2) Is fair All too many BYU students find out in the middle of school that the church isn't true and the honor code is bogus. But if they TELL THE TRUTH the church punishes them. They're not cheating. They're not lying. They're not doing ANYTHING academically dishonest. They simply don't believe in the LDS church or the honor code anymore, and there's no out except to forfeit your entire transcript and walk away from an investment of much time and money... ...That's not fair. What's the scam at SVU?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2013 10:48AM by amos2.
My TBM daughter went to SVU for three years. The University is owned by Glade Knight, who is indeed, a mormon. As a matter of fact, he was our Stake President at one time. He is a very wealthy business man who owns several business in Virginia. Since SVU is a private school, they can make their own rules and allow in who they chose. They do allow non-mormon students, but they have to abide by the Honor Code. I know my duaghter had a non-member floor mate who had a very hard time. She won an art scholarship to SVU and accepted because she needed the financial aid. BUT she was forever getting in trouble for breaking honor code (drinking, boys in her dorm room, etc.)
The rules for who they allow in are different for LDS and non LDS. Non LDS only have to agree to abide the honor code. LDS students must be interviewed by their bishop and get a recommendation from him. One of the "requirements" is to have attended seminary on a regular basis. Even as a TBM, I was not about to make my child get up at the wee hours and go to seminary, so I never enforced it. The bishop sent a "waiver" type thing, explaining that "K.'s mom was not always very active and did not take her child to seminary. It was no fault of K.s that she did not attend and that should not be held against her when considering her acceptance to the school."