My DS and I visited the campus a few months ago on an athletic recruiting trip and we fell in love with the university. He liked the small size of the classes, the friendliness and intelligence of the students and he particularly liked the Honor code and some of the traditions. While we were visiting there was a parade by confederate re-enactors that we found a little odd but I understand that Lexington is a hub for that type of thing since it is the final resting place for Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. DS also liked the fact that such a high percentage of the student body is involved in Greek life. He felt that with such a large number of fraternities and sororities, there is most likely a “home” for everyone within the Greek community who wants it. My daughter is a current undergraduate at UNC Chapel Hill and is in a sorority and her sorority experience has been very positive. Some of the news reports recently regarding hazing, racism and overall “bad” behavior by fraternities (outside of W&L) has made me question whether I want my son to participate in a fraternity at Washington and Lee or any other school. My question is whether the fraternities at W&L foster a racist, elitist, or entitled mentality and whether the school Honor code does pervade the student mentality or is it merely lip service? We didn’t feel like there was sub-culture of racism when we visited but the heavy presence of the confederate flags and the confederate re-enactors have made we wonder if we missed something. Incidentally, we are a white family from the south for many generations, we just do not tolerate racism. Any insights into the real culture at W&L would be greatly appreciated!
Your son is right; there are so many fraternities at W&L that even if you rule out the ones that have an elitist/entitled vibe, there are still plenty to consider. Deferred rush gives him a chance to get to know some of the guys and see them in action in the fall semester. However, I do think that any time you get groups of 18-22 year-olds together, the likelihood of them doing something dumb increases! Looking forward to that magical time of prefrontal cortex full development at age 25 . . .
Our sense is that while Lexington does attract some “the South shall rise again” tourism, the university is working hard to attract an increasingly diverse (geographically, economically, and racially) student body. I once read that there were two kinds of people who live in Rockbridge County: those who had written a book (e.g. W&L and VMI faculty), and those who had never read a book. Obviously that’s an exaggeration, but we have seen the occasional Confederate flag bumper sticker on a truck at Walmart. We’ve seen them in our famously liberal hometown as well, so it’s sadly not unique to Lexington.
The honor code is taken very seriously in my senior D’s experience. I worry that when she graduates, she’ll continue to leave her laptop unattended! I know of at least two students who were found guilty this year of honor violations; one (a junior whose parent is a W&L alum) appealed the verdict but lost the appeal. Both were sent packing.
I saw this today and noted that NY, CA, NJ, and PA have more hate groups than VA. Racism, sadly, is not limited to any one part of the country.