<p>DS#2 is very interested in W&L, and has spent some time looking at their website. Last night, he showed me a picture of a freshman blogger (Lee) standing underneath a NC confederate flag that the blogger had hung in his dorm room. It frankly gave my husband and I some concern. Is honoring the confederacy pervasive at W&L? And we wonder why the school did not ask the young man to remove the picture on their website. </p>
<p>I understand Lee's right to hang the flag on his wall, but I am surprised that the university would want that divisive visual on its official website. And, surprisingly to us, there were no comments from readers about the flag, although other installments had received comments. </p>
<p>Are we reading too much into a single photo, or is it representative of the political philosophy of many other students?</p>
<p>read the “honestly now” thread that is below for a view on the college honor system…it really has nothing to do with the flag but more to do on the way the college runs things. I read this thread yrs ago and its one of the few that sticks with me. I have no knowledge of W&L other than this forum.But as a parent I’d read it</p>
<p>OP said: “Is honoring the confederacy pervasive at W&L?”</p>
<p>It’s a Southern thing. The dishonorable meaning that we northerners impute to that flag simply do not recognize the more complex set of meanings that the flag engenders in the South.</p>
<p>W&L is in the South. It’s similar to what I said about my move from coastal California to New England: sure I’d like to move; I’ve always wanted to live in a foreign country :-)</p>
<p>I guess I would say that if you want to go to W&L, you should at least have a *nuanced *view of the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression, as it is called by some).</p>
<p>Knowing that the Conf flag is offensive to most black people and not caring says a lot about the college’s values. That would wipe W&L off my list, though to be honest I’ve always had that stereotype about it.</p>
<p>We live in Missouri. My husband grew up in Kentucky and Texas, and would never consider owning, hanging or flying the confederate flag. And we are not African-Americans or any other URM. </p>
<p>Again, my concern is not whether there are some students at W&L who are fond of an era that has ceased to exist in more than a century. My concern is if most of the student body feels that way, as well as the administration. Pride in one’s heritage is one thing, but pride in a war that almost severed this country in two over the economics of owning human beings in quite another.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to hear about what a great man Robert E. Lee was, you should probably avoid Washington and Lee. There are lots of other schools.</p>
<p>Runmanstl - I concur with your concern and would be interested if this kid’s glorifying of flag or era is a fluke or is it pervasive? I hope it is a fluke. There will always be a few yahoos around celebrating atrocities.</p>
<p>If you think somebody who puts up the flag in the picture is “celebrating atrocities,” I think you probably wouldn’t be happy at Washington and Lee.</p>
<p>And just to note: isn’t that an Asian kid in the picture? Well, maybe his name is Lee also.</p>
<p>That is just a version of the North Carolina state flag. Have you ever seen the Mississippi state flag? It still has the battle flag in the upper right hand corner. Why get so offended over a historical symbol that, for most people, has no racial undertones. If you are afraid of the Confederate battle flag than perhaps you are looking for schools in the wrong part of the country.</p>
<p>If my AP history knowledge is correct, I’m pretty sure the war started because the south was suffering economically, and it blamed the north. Then it wanted to leave (Which IMHO, had every right to.)</p>
<p>I thought the slavery issue only became part of the war with the Emancipation Proclamation.</p>
<p>If I’m wrong, which I very well could be, (3 years since APUSH), forgive me.</p>
<p>As stated before, the south sees the flag as something entirely different than we do. (After all, they were fighting for states rights. Unfortunately, slavery just happened to be one of those rights.)</p>
<p>And just because African Americans find offence in it is doesn’t mean we shouldn’t acknowledge it. They are not the only ones to suffer discrimination in the US. (Irish did too, and very many immigrants from our southern borders, legal or not, are treated as if they are not human either.)</p>
<p>Here’s the truth that most people won’t tell you: while some white Southerners display the Confederate Battle flag because they are racist jerks, and others display it because of their pride in their heritage, for both groups there is another reason: they do it because people from the North don’t like it. The Civil War and its causes were complex, and the residual feelings in the South about it (and especially its connection to race) are also complex–but the display of the flag is pretty simple, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Is there anyone on this board that has ties to W&L? I truly am not interested in revisiting the Civil War, or debating whether racism is involved in the display of the confederate flag. My husband (Purple Heart, Bronze Star in Vietnam) and I are not “afraid of the Confederate battle flag” MM2028, if anything we find the devotion a little pathetic at best.</p>
<p>Again, to anyone who has recently attended or currently attends W&L…would my son be one of a few who displays his favorite sports teams, rock bands & vintage movie posters on his walls in lieu of the Confederate flag?</p>
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