Washington and Lee faculty vote to change the university's name
By ELIZABETH BELL Richmond Times-Dispatch 13 hrs ago



RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH FILE

After the faculty vote, a Washington and Lee spokeswoman said, “The university’s name rests with its board of trustees, and there are no current plans to change it.”

RICHMOND — Washington and Lee University faculty passed a motion to remove Robert E. Lee from the name of the small liberal arts college in Lexington.

The motion — the first time for W&L faculty to make such a recommendation — has been sent to the board of trustees.

W&L President Will Dudley called a special meeting to discuss the motion at the request of the faculty affairs committee. About 260 faculty members attended the virtual meeting Monday afternoon.

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The school was named for George Washington, an early benefactor, and Lee, the former Confederate general and president of the university who is buried in the chapel at the heart of campus. Washington and Lee University is the school’s fifth name since 1749.

The three permanent Black faculty members at W&L’s law school called for the removal of both Washington’s and Lee’s names from the school’s name, according to a letter sent to Dudley.

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More than 2,000 alumni have joined a group advocating for change, called Not Unmindful.

A separate alumni group, called Generals Redoubt, opposes the name change.

The group was formed in 2018 in response to a commission that examined the school’s institutional history. The commission suggested many changes, including renaming some campus buildings, but stopped short of recommending renaming the school.

“The Generals Redoubt unequivocally opposes the changing of the name. ... It believes a recent resolution by tenured faculty calling for the removal of Robert E. Lee’s name from that of the university poses a serious challenge of financial and reputational sustainability,” the group’s treasurer, Elizabeth Barry Brown, said in an email to students and alumni on June 27.

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