Here’s  a link to Del.  Bob Brink’s (short) address at George Mason re education, the humanities, and finding common ground in Virginia.

“Virginia is a place of contrast and change. Virginia was founded as an agrarian settlement on the banks of the James, but we’re on the cutting edge of the 21st century’s knowledge economy. We denied some of our citizens the fundamental right to public education rather than comply with the law of the land, and yet Virginia was also the first state in the nation to elect an African-American governor.” 

“To find common ground in the midst of all this diversity, to be able to understand the past and use it as a platform on which to build the future, is a difficult task in an increasingly impersonal and isolating world. In Virginia, it’s especially important for us to make the effort.”