Washington and Lee faculty vote 188 to 51 to remove Robert E. Lee's name from university
The faculty of Washington and Lee University voted overwhelmingly Monday to remove Robert E. Lee's name from the Virginia university. The faculty of then-Washington College voted to add Lee's name in 1870, right after the former Confederate general died. The resolution to remove Lee's name passed 188-51, while a proposed motion to remove George Washington's name failed.
Lee, who had served as the college's president after the Civil War, "was a symbol of who that faculty wanted to be, and who they were," said Alison Bell, head of the Faculty Affairs Committee. "The faculty is back 150 years later, asking the university for a name change because Lee does not represent who we are and who we want to be." Washington and Lee's student government formally asked for Lee's name to be scrapped last week, and more than 200 faculty members had signed a petition with the same goal.
The board of trustees, which would have to approve the name change, is "carefully monitoring developments regarding issues of race, monuments, and symbols of the Confederacy and their implications" for Washington and Lee, a spokeswoman said last week.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Elsewhere in Virginia, Confederate names are being stripped from public K-12 schools at a rapid clip, The Washington Post reports. Stonewall Middle School in Prince William County is getting a new name, as is Robert E. Lee High School, one of the most diverse schools in Fairfax County. Loudon County High School is getting a new mascot after the school board voted unanimously to drop the Raiders, a reference to Confederate Col. John S. Mosby's guerrilla troops.
"Historians said the wholesale rejection of Confederate iconography by Virginia schools is unprecedented," the Post reports, though James Grossman at the American Historical Association noted Black students, parents, and communities have objected since the schools were named in the 1950s and '60s, in an angry backlash to the Supreme Court's seminal ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.
"It was trying to make Black students feel unwelcome, while white students and white communities were emboldened to resist desegregation," said historian Adam Domby.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
The best homes of the year
Feature Featuring a grand turret entrance in New York and built-in glass elevator in Arizona
By The Week Staff Published
-
Nordstrom family, investor to take retail chain private
Speed Read The business will be acquired by members of the family and El Puerto de Liverpool, a Mexican real estate company
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Biden commutes most federal death sentences
Speed Read The president downgraded the punishment of 37 of 40 prisoners on death row to life in prison without parole
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Putin says Russia isn't weakened by Syria setback
Speed Read Russia had been one of the key backers of Syria's ousted Assad regime
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Georgia DA Fani Willis removed from Trump case
Speed Read Willis had been prosecuting the election interference case against the president-elect
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Democrats blame 'President Musk' for looming shutdown
Speed Read The House of Representatives rejected a spending package that would've funding the government into 2025
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump, Musk sink spending bill, teeing up shutdown
Speed Read House Republicans abandoned the bill at the behest of the two men
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Congress reaches spending deal to avert shutdown
Speed Read The bill would fund the government through March 14, 2025
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Luigi Mangione charged with murder, terrorism
Speed Read Magnione is accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ex-FBI informant pleads guilty to lying about Bidens
Speed Read Alexander Smirnov claimed that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter were involved in a bribery scheme with Ukrainian energy company Burisma
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
South Korea impeaches president, eyes charges
Speed Read Yoon Suk Yeol faces investigations on potential insurrection and abuse of power charges
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published