University of Virginia Suspends Tours That Emphasized Ties to Slavery

The University of Virginia said on Thursday that it suspended a longstanding campus tour service, a move that followed complaints that the tours cast a negative historical spotlight on the school, particularly its relationship to slavery.

The tours, aimed primarily at prospective students and their families, were run by student volunteers. For several years, the tour organization, the University Guide Service, has been the focus of criticism from an organization of conservative alumni called the Jefferson Council, which argued that the volunteer guides alienated prospective students by providing a “woke version of U.Va. history.”

The announcement came about two months after a new set of appointees selected by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, cemented his administration’s control of the university’s governing board of trustees. His appointees now hold 13 of 17 seats.

U.Va. said it would temporarily replace the volunteers with student interns paid by the university to lead the tours. In a statement, a spokeswoman for U.Va., Bethanie Glover, said the decision was related to “issues and concerns” with the guides’ attendance and the content and consistency of the tours. It said the university would work with the guide service on an improvement plan.

Leaders of the guide service declined to comment but posted a notice on the group’s Instagram account. The group said it would work with the university to reinstate the volunteer tours in the spring semester, “so long as this relationship does not harm our ability to share an honest and complete account of U.Va. and its history.”

The announcement was first reported by the student-run newspaper, The Cavalier Daily. It came as U.Va., one of the country’s most selective public