Free Republic

Washington and Lee University may change its name -- well, both of them -- in June when the school’s board of trustees meets to decide the matter. The renaming controversy has surrounded the school for some time now, with many students and some faculty demanding a change while others wish to keep the current name of one of the oldest colleges in the country.In 1796, George Washington donated 100 shares of the James River Canal Company stock to the school, stock that he had received in recognition of his selfless service to his country. It was one of the largest...

Students at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia are demanding that the school remove "Lee" from its name to promote racial equity, according to a local report. On March 23, at least 200 students, many clad in t-shirts and face masks staged a walkout, protesting for what sophomore Amber Morrison called the university's "second chance to be on the right side of history." "We will only be made better by creating a more inclusive campus," she said, "A lot of students feel like there's no point arguing because we don't have the support and we don't have the people,...

In the fall of 2018, the trustees of Washington and Lee University voted to paper over parts of the university’s history. On the recommendations of Washington and Lee’s “Commission on Institutional History and Community,” the board voted to close off the Recumbent Statue of Robert E. Lee in the university chapel that bears his name and to remove the name of John Robinson from an important campus building. A group of alumni were concerned by those decisions and started to dig deeper. They discovered that those weren’t the only attempts to de-emphasize their school’s history. Over the preceding year, the...

LEXINGTON, Va. -- Mark Rush could not name the last movie in the past 10 years that gave him a belly laugh -- or made him snort or chuckle or laugh out loud, at least for any extended period of time. "The last side-splitting movies I saw were 'Caddyshack' or 'Blazing Saddles,'" the politics and law professor at Washington and Lee College said. "That was way too long ago." Rush and I were talking over dinner at the Red Hen, a farm-to-table restaurant that made headlines earlier this year for its unfortunate decision to refuse service to White House spokeswoman...

As Miss Coulter explains in her Washington and Lee University Mock Convention speech: Immigration, Immigration, Immigration

Black students at Washington and Lee University have demanded that the board of trustees denounce one of the two namesakes of the Virginia school, Confederate general Robert E. Lee, or face acts of civil disobedience. The students are calling for the school to apologize for Lee’s “racist and dishonorable conduct,” remove Confederate flags from the chapel, and ban Confederate reenactors from the campus on Lee-Jackson Day (a state holiday), according to the Washington Post. General Lee, who served as the school’s president after the Civil War, is buried on the school grounds beneath the campus chapel. The tension stemmed from...

A group of seven multiracial Washington and Lee University (W&L) students are demanding the school remove all Confederate flags from campus and "acknowledge" General Robert E. Lee's "dishonorable side." According to the Roanoke Times, "seven multiracial students, calling themselves 'The Committee,'" have also demanded the school "acknowledge and apologize for participating in chattel slavery." They want recognition of "Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the undergraduate campus" and an end to "neo-Confederates" marching across campus "to the Lee Chapel on Lee-Jackson Day." The students say they will "engage in civil disobedience" if their demands are not met by September 1st....

After the Civil War, Robert E. Lee accepted a position as president of what was then called Washington College. By all accounts, he served the school well and had a nice end of life. After his death, Washington College was renamed Washington & Lee. Today, many black people attend the university that bears Marse Robert’s surname, so I guess we won. But a group of black law students at Washington & Lee Law School is getting really sick of the university’s consistent, stars-and-bars waving support of Lee’s legacy and the whitewashing (no pun intended) of what that legacy represents. They’ve...

Jayson Blair, who was at the center of a major journalism scandal as a New York Times reporter in 2003, will be the featured speaker at Washington and Lee University’s 48th Journalism Ethics Institute on Friday, Nov. 6. The title of Blair’s talk is “Lessons Learned.” The public is invited to the presentation at 5:30 p.m. in Stackhouse Theater, Elrod Commons. Blair resigned from the Times after an investigation found that he had plagiarized and fabricated major portions of stories that he had written during four years with the Times. Some of the stories that he covered in this manner...

LEXINGTON, Va. (AP) -- Americans must pay attention to challenges to democracy today just as Abraham Lincoln did by fiercely opposing slavery, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told a conference on the 16th president's legacy Friday night. "We are part of something far greater than ourselves," Thomas told more than 300 people at Washington and Lee University. Many in Lincoln's time didn't realize the threat that slavery posed to the principles on which the nation was founded, Thomas said. "What a miserable job he had. He wasn't popular," Thomas said, "but he did what was right." Thomas received a standing...

(AP) — WASHINGTON - Nearly 145 years after it was stolen by a Union soldier during a Civil War raid, a missing library book has been returned to the Washington and Lee University library by an Illinois man who inherited it from the soldier's descendants. The book was passed down through the soldier's family, then on to Mike Dau of Lake Forest, Ill., who tracked down the original library and returned it.

LEXINGTON, Va. -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia disagrees with judges who believe the Constitution should be reinterpreted as society changes, saying that allows courts to bend the law to suit a political agenda. Scalia, speaking to students and faculty on Friday at Washington and Lee University, also said increasing partisanship among judges was one reason why the Senate questions nominees about their personal views on issues such as abortion and confirms only candidates regarded as ''moderate."

<p>PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest and his wife, Marguerite, have given away about a third of their $1 billion fortune over the past four years, and they say they want to give it all away before they die.</p>

LEXINGTON, Va. -- Students at Washington and Lee University chose John Kerry to win the Democratic presidential nomination during a mock convention Saturday with a remarkable record--since 1908 the students have picked the correct opposition nominee 17 of 22 times. "We thought it might come down to the last state's votes, but Kerry's momentum put him over the top with a mere five states to go," said Michael Denbow, political chairman of the Mock Convention's executive committee. Kerry won the nomination with 2,432 delegates. Howard Dean came in second with 943 delegates, and John Edwards received 719, the convention said....

Sen. John Kerry will be the next Democratic nominee for president if Washington and Lee University's prediction record holds true. Kerry received 2,431 delegate votes in the 2004 Mock Convention held Friday and Saturday. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean trailed by more than half for second place with 944 votes. Sen. John Edwards earned 719 delegate votes and the convention's nomination for vice president. The quadrennial event featured keynote speaker James Carville, who lamented the younger generation's loss of a president they, and the world, can trust and admire. He rallied the historically conservative students, who at times had difficulty...

Groups question validity of Va. law Sodomy law ruling sparks Va. debate The Texas court decision that overturned laws banning sodomy in private coincides with indictments in Virginia alleging public sodomy. By MATT CHITTUM THE ROANOKE TIMES When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas anti-sodomy law in June, its ruling came in the middle of a three-month investigation by Harrisonburg police of alleged public sodomy at a city adult bookstore. Laws banning private sodomy are unconstitutional, legal minds quickly agreed, but the government can still prosecute for sodomy in public. So, three weeks after the ruling, Harrisonburg Commonwealth's Attorney...

Sharpton to be W&L speaker BY CALVIN R. TRICE TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER May 01, 2003 LEXINGTON - Presidential hopeful the Rev. Al Sharpton will highlight the speakers' list next week for the start of Washington and Lee University's famous Mock Convention. Sharpton will speak at 4:30 p.m. next Thursday at the Lee Chapel during the spring kickoff for the 2004 Democratic Mock Convention. The kickoff is scheduled for May 7-9, W&L student organizers said. The event is part of the quadrennial, schoolwide research project that will culminate in the university's 23rd mock nomination convention in January. The project has a...

The Reverend Al Sharpton could barely contain a smile Thursday when he visited the tomb of Robert E. Lee'I want people to see that if I will go to Robert E. Lee's tomb, I will go anywhere!!' [to become the 2004 Democratic Nominee for President of the United States] He then added: 'I wonder how this will play in Harlem?' Reverend Sharpton paid his respects at the end of another improbable campaign day appearance at Washington and Lee University.Neither Sharpton nor student leaders expected a meeting of the minds. It was more like a marriage of convenience.Washington and Lee students...