<p>Thoughts, comments are appreciated.</p>
<p>Great school......fabulous. Outstanding faculty. Gorgeous campus steeped in history and tradition. BUT.......its a bit remote. Its a SUPERB feeder college for graduate and law studies in Washington DC and jobs on Capitol Hill. </p>
<p>The downside? Admissions is quirky. Its a small school and they are very, very picky. Sometimes making decisions that boggle the mind. Take it from experience.</p>
<p>But if you get in, its a wonderful place to go to college.</p>
<p>Very well respected school. Gorgeous campus. Fiske Guide has said, "the last bastion of the southern gentleman, who can hold his liquor and is damn proud of it..."</p>
<p>Highest frat membership in the country (~80%)</p>
<p>One of the highest binge drinking rates in the country
(60% in the two weeks prior to the survey)</p>
<p>W&L surveys indicate that 55% of the students had at least one alcohol blackout in the prior year.</p>
<p>thanks so much guys appreciate it</p>
<p>They're very proud of their association with Robert E. Lee (the book award presenter at my school wouldn't shut up about Robert E. Lee's involvement in the school). That was a personal turn off for me.</p>
<p>"White and Loaded"</p>
<p>General Robert E. Lee was a man of CONSIDERABLE honor and dignity. He was a graduate of West Point and a classmate of SEVERAL Union Generals.</p>
<p>He was DEEPLY conflicted about the War Between the States and only decided on fighting with the Confederacy when family members persuaded him of "the cause". </p>
<p>"The Cause" was not slavery.</p>
<p>When Gen. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia (I have been there MANY times), he signed the documents of surrender and departed the school house and was met with a FULL Union Regiment of Officers holding their sabres in salute to him.</p>
<p>He was NEVER considered for arrest or indictment for ANY crimes. He returned to Lexington and took over the college named after General and President George Washington. Gen. Lee was married to President Washington's grand daughter, Mary Custis Lee. </p>
<p>Gen. Lee RESCUED the college and served as its President until he died. He is buried on campus, with his wife and children and his horse, Traveller.</p>
<p>It should NOT be a turnoff that Robert E. Lee is mentioned prominently by any representative of the school or that he is buried there. His Code of Honor is STILL in effect on campus today and students take exams UNPROCTORED and on THEIR own schedules. Students convicted by the Student trial court of dishonor or deceit are summarily dismissed and their names are posted in public on campus.</p>
<p>I have NOTHING but respect for this school and its heritage. </p>
<p>However, drinking is a bit of a problem that is being addressed, as it is at MOST colleges. Is it "White and Loaded?" I think a high percentage of kids come from upper middle class families but a percentage of them receive financial aid. Is it "White?" There are minorities on campus and they are trying to increase their number as are HUNDREDS of colleges around the nation, but the admissions standards are extremely high. </p>
<p>My problem with W & L has been and remains its admissions office and its peculiar decisions.</p>
<p>Love the school and knew many happy students there who are happy grads.</p>
<p>Thanks to AlGoresCousin for explaining why W&L is well justified in its pride over Lee's presidency and service to the school and the example he continues to set for students.</p>
<p>Has a rep around these parts as being very selective, for the well-to-do and for a hard liquor social scene.</p>
<p>Ah, W&L didn't get its present name until after Lee died. Lee became president of what was then known as Washington College. Incidentally, Lee didn't leave the Civil War with his reputation completely intact. He was stripped of his U.S. citizenship.</p>
<p>In contemporary times, W&L became known as a 'southern aristocrat' school.</p>
<p>As to the "cause" of the civil war, I tend to believe confederate General Nathan Bedford Forest and southern Senator John C. Calhoun; slavery was most assuredly was at its root.</p>
<p>Slavery was a part of the problem. To deny that would be an incredulous insult to those who suffered under it. But neither was it the ONLY raison d'etre of "the Cause." Gen. Lee was stripped of his US Citizenship, so to speak, by his allegiance to the Confederacy and serving as its Commanding General of the Army of Northern Virginia. Though he had vigorously opposed succession before the war. After the war, he renewed his oath of allegiance to the United States in writing, but Secretary of State Seward had tabled it, thinking someone else had dealt with it.....and it was in fact never acted upon. Finally an act of Congress and Presidential Pardon by President Gerald R. Ford in 1975 restored his citizenship posthumously, righting a very egregious wrong. Further, he was a strong proponent of President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction, and opposed many Confederates who continued skirmishes and violence against occupying northern troops. He expelled MANY students at Washington College who engaged in violence against blacks in the community. To associate him with Nathan Bedford Forrest and Forrest's activities in starting the Klan after the war would be a gross injustice and slander upon Lee's good name. </p>
<p>Further, The Custis -Lee Mansion and Plantation in Arlington Virginia were seized by the Union Troops and never returned to the family. That mansion and plantation are now Arlington National Cemetary. </p>
<p>Gen. Robert E. Lee is rightfully revered not only in the South but by many in "the North" because of his bravery, honor and dignity and his tireless efforts until his death in 1870 to aid in the reunification of our war torn nation: The Reconstruction. </p>
<p>My two cents.</p>
<p>The ethos of W&L. My favorite southern magazine. Lots of ads for good liquor.</p>
<p>Garden</a> & Gun Magazine: 21st Century Southern America</p>
<p>LOL Barrons.</p>
<p>Ever been to that little gun shop in 'downtown' Lexington? As for liquid damnation, I've never been to a party or dinner in the Shannandoah Valley where "Virginia Gentleman" whiskey wasn't served. It was regularly available at W&L receptions.</p>
<p>I have been to the two blocks of downtown Lexington a few times. Don't recall the gunshop. I do recall sitting having breakfast at a little cafe and somebody coming in and anouncing that the downtown bank had a "big spread" of food out and everyone should drop by. Of course we had to check it out and the spread consisted of some cookies and punch. Big times in Lexington.</p>
<p>I do subscribe to G and G magazine after seeing it on a newsstand in Charleston. Lots of good tips on best places in the south.</p>
<p>When Lee took over Washington College as President it was nearly bankrupt. Not only did he restore the college to financial stability, he started the nation's first school of journalism, added the law school, and instituted the Honor Code. Washington and Lee alums think of Lee as an education with much vision, not as a Civil War general.</p>
<p>Ah...er... 1putt59,</p>
<p>The school nickname/mascot is "the Generals."</p>
<p>Lake Washington,</p>
<p>Don't you think that makes perfect sense, in light of the fact that the school is named after George Washington (who gave it its original endowment) and Robert E. Lee (who saved it from ruin)?</p>
<p>To the OP-My daughter is dating a Washington and Lee grad- one of the smartest young men I've ever met. While I don't know the details of his financial situation, I know he had a "full ride" - perhaps merit based, perhaps a combo of scholarship and financial aid. In any case, he is not from a rich family, nor does he fit the southern conservative stereotype. He's an Independent, supporting Obama. And he loved the school, fwiw. </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>I was simply trying to address your point that Lee's Civil War role is minimized at W&L. I don't agree with that at all, notwithstanding the quality of the school.</p>
<p>Lake Washington,</p>
<p>I hate to get into a tit-for-tat with you, but I beg to differ. Following is the news release regarding the University's recent celebration of Lee's 200th birthday:</p>
<p>WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY
Lexington, Virginia 24450-2116
News Office: 540-458-8235</p>
<p>Media Alert
January 8, 2007</p>
<p>Robert E. Lee The Educator
200th Birthday Commemoration on January19th</p>
<p>Robert E. Lee helped to change the face of higher education in America.</p>
<p>When Lee created the first university journalism program in the U.S. in 1869, the New York Evening Post labeled it “Absurd.” Many referred to his vision of practical training for students as “revolutionary.”</p>
<p>Yet Lee prevailed in taking a small undistinguished school and turning it into an innovating institution that was decades ahead of its time, and whose influence can be seen in higher education today.</p>
<p>Washington and Lee University (then Washington College) was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1865, and Judge John Brockenbrough had to borrow a suit and $100 to travel to meet Lee. When he accepted the presidency, everyone expected Lee to be a mere figurehead. But for the next five years, until his death, this brilliant commander and strategist pursued an innovative plan for a liberal arts education that incorporated training in law, medicine, journalism, business, science, modern languages and agriculture. </p>
<p>In addition to creating the first journalism program in America, he proposed a school of commerce twelve years before the Wharton School was created. He abandoned the classical system, predominant at that time, that studied the philosophers and Greek and Latin. In its place he instituted a more practical education that included skills he saw as necessary to re-build the South.</p>
<p>And he did it all with the support of a number of prominent northern philanthropists, benefiting many students from the North along the way.</p>
<p>Lee also placed great emphasis on individual honor. "We have but one rule,” he said, “and it is that every student is a gentleman." The W&L Honor System, which Lee made more rigorous, remains one of the strictest in the country.</p>
<p>Lee is buried beneath Lee Chapel and Museum, where his office has been preserved much as he left it for the last time. His faithful horse “Traveller” is interred outside the chapel.</p>
<hr>
<p>Also, here is a link to the schedule events commemorating his birthday:</p>
<p>[url=<a href="http://lee200.wlu.edu/Schedule.html%5DSchedule%5B/url">http://lee200.wlu.edu/Schedule.html]Schedule[/url</a>]</p>
<p>I don't think you will find much (if anything at all) in either place dealing with Lee's role as a general. It is all about Lee the educator.</p>