Most of us know it’s a huge honor for students to live on the Lawn. The 47 selected each year get their own rocking chairs—front row seats to streak shows—and the esteemed privilege of walking outside in their towels to bathrooms that smell strangely zoo-like while people admire their accomplishments (and calves). But it’s not just students—professors and UVA administrators can also sign up for the privilege of living on the Lawn.
 Lawn enthusiasts (and bocce fans) would kill to have the Lawn as their backyard, but some UVA faculty don’t fancy the idea of living in a fishbowl. |
Yep, Jefferson’s Academical Village includes 10 residences where top faculty and administrators can live in the collegiate thick of it. Excepting Pavilion VII, which houses the Colonnade Club, and Pavilion VIII, which holds two apartments, the other pavilions are all unique, single-family setups.
Like the Lawn students, Lawnie profs must be prepared for life with a few quirks. For example, Pavilion III (home to Patricia Lampkin, chief student affairs officer, husband Wayne Cozart, director of alumni affairs, and their kids) has two rooms on the main floor—but no kitchen, bathroom or running water. Traditionally, profs taught courses in the main level rooms. The Lampkin-Cozart fam sleeps on the upper floors and cooks and hangs out in the basement.
Before moving into Pavilion III, the smallest residence, the family rented their old house, got a small storage unit, and pared down many of their belongings. “It’s not easy living. …You have to know the trade-offs, and they’re well worth it for us in terms of some home comforts and some privacy issues. But you’re living in history,” says Lampkin of Lawn life.
Others for whom the inconvenience is worth it: Center for Politics Director Larry Sabato, deans of the schools of Architecture, Nursing, Education and Commerce, and departing Vice President and Provost Gene Block, who will leave a vacancy in Pavilion V this summer.
