<p>The confederate flag is an interesting symbol. It is tough for anyone who grew up in the north to understand the differing perspective of the south. For example, how many yankees on these boards know what the south called (still calls…) the Civil War? How many from the north know why the Reconstruction wasn’t? (wasn’t what it was called?) How many know when the last southern state rejoined the Union, and who? (How many even knew the states had to petition to rejoin?)</p>
<p>what are you talking about? put the pipe down man.</p>
<p>“I think not Xiggi. Try one of the deans.”</p>
<p>Yeah, for sure. For sure!</p>
<p>I live near W and L and have many friends with students there plus we are in business with graduates. My father is a VMI graduate. I just spent the night at W and L a couple weeks ago and wandered around.
The graduates we know as adults are thoughtful, principled, articulate and well read, and are devoted to their communities, families and alma mater. The school it most resembles in the South in my opinion is Davidson but the social life is not the same.
The students rave about the individual attention in the classrooms with full professors, and I have personally witnessed the heart-stoppingly beautiful grounds in late afternoon with many professors in deep conversations with students. This is W and L’s biggest strength…community between teachers and the learners is very strong.
The student body is very able so standards remain high all the way through.
The student body is geographically diverse and alum networking is strong after graduation but they have to strive to get some segments of students to consider them.<br>
Yes, W and L is more conservative fiscally and politically re the background of wealthy families who often send children there but don’t forget they have an outstanding Mock Election that is really deserving of praise with all parties represented well and they have a very fine law school on the premises. Justice issues matter on campus.
The honor code is also outstanding. The beauty of the region is outstanding and spending time in the surrounding rivers is part of the experience.</p>
<p>hats off to those brave few who don’t join a frat or sorority and fare well anyway but they are the minority. The stats on frat and sorority life are daunting to many. And No I am not firmly anti frat, but I personally think 80 percentage plus is just a bit stifling. Most people join up and make the most of it which is a likely a sensible approach.
The arts matter at W and L and they have a journalism school that has a big rep for a liberal arts college. Business is especially strong as a major as well.</p>
<p>If high quality and personalized instruction is high on your criteria list and you want your teachers to know your name, W and L delivers an outstanding four year grounding for life.</p>
<p>Not defending W&L per se, but I did want to share that the college I attended was also a top LAC, which back then ranked very high on those drinking scales cited by college guides. Frats were dominant, sororities appeared after my freshman year. My mother worried I was attending a party school, and during that first week (when all the freshmen party-hop), I worried too. But in the end, I received a great education and found enough like-minded folks and friends to hang with. Also, the administration has since worked hard to curb the negative effects of the Greek scene and I don’t think people would think of it now as a party school. W&L may well change her reputation in the same way.</p>
<p>Sepaking of the reputation issue, only the student can decide whether it bothers him if his college has a negative reputation in some places or among certain types of people. For example, if after graduation you plan to settle in the South, then this may not pose any problem. But if you plan to work in the northeast and you think here W&L lacks name recognition or invokes a negative image (as the OP seems to have experienced), then that might be a factor to consider in decision-making.</p>
<p>Agree with Faline2 that the Mock convention is a great program.</p>
<p>Um, no, we don’t agree, if I’m reading you correctly. You seem to think that the students are uber-conservative, heartless, and rich. The facutly is another story.</p>
<p>My alma mater (very liberal) also gives away its food to homeless shelters once a week. Frankly, I see more wrong with throwing away perfectly good food. There are a lot of things that simply will not spoil between the time they are set out for dinner and the time they are taken to a shelter - salad greens coming immediately to mind. </p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken, the school does a LOT of other community service work. The law school has Legal Aid; a lot of students volunteer at the battered women’s shelter; they make several runs up to DC in the winter to bring clothing and blankets to the homeless. Shepard is in no way incongrous with the rest of the school. The students do take the initiative and do a lot of things on their own. </p>
<p>Let’s face it - the administration could make all of the programmes it wanted to, but if there is no student interest, they would not survive. My point is that such public service is an integral part of the college, not some novelty thing that is worthy of news recognition. Shepard, wherever it could be held, would be worthy of making the news - the fact that the students (Heaven forbid!!!) might vote Republican does little to change the value. </p>
<p>Frankly, the WP writer did a hack job on the school. Let’s face it - one caring soul out of a bunch of rich, snobby, heartless students makes better press than the fact that those students see nothing wrong with drinking hard one night and doing public service the next day.</p>
<p>I am not sure about the Reconstruction questio, but I know it is called the “The War between the States” and was it S.C. who was last? I know N.C. was last to JOIN the union. Thanks for the perspective.</p>
<p>The original name was “The War of Northern Aggression”, which, when you go to Atlanta or Charlotte or anywhere on the Gulf, is being refought - this time with bulldozers and For Sale signs</p>
<p>The first time I saw a confederate flag on a car when we moved down to the Southeast it unnerved me. I just thought, “Klan”. Having lived here awhile now I understand that the Confederate flag displayed is a form of Southern Pride, but I don’t think Southerners understand the way non-Southerners see it.</p>
<p>The last state readmitted was either Texas or Georgia, depending on how you count: Georgia was readmitted earlier, reoccupied by northern troops (yes, the south was occupied, just like any othe “conquered” land) and finally re-readmitted in July, 1870. </p>
<p>There is a lot we yankees were not taught in school, a lot that still affects the south to this day, especially economic decisions.</p>
<p>Aires, where comments like "You seem to think that the students are uber-conservative, heartless, and rich. " come from, I have no idea. Maybe there is some guilt on your part leading you to look for negatives where they don’t exist? I don’t know, but please don’t put words in my mouth I did not say.</p>
<p>How can one describe the culture at a place like W&L without other readers taking parts as negatives, especially words like “conservative” and “greek”? They seem to hold a lot of negatives on these boards. Why, I don’t know.</p>
<p>(keep in mind, aries, I schooled, among others, at U. Chi, as does my D currently. Hardly a bastion of liberality in its thought, especially regarding economics. And that’s why I like the place.)</p>
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<p>Having grown up in the South (Georgia and Kentucky), I’m going to agree with this (the second sentence). Quite a lot of Southerners honestly do not understand the way that it is perceived by non-Southerners - and if they do, they are so accustomed to getting flak for where they are from, that they assume that it is just a gung-ho Yankee hatred for anything southern, rather than genuine concern about racism. And then, of course, they become more vehment about displaying it, because if one’s group pride is called into question, it’s a natural human reaction to dig in one’s heels and display that pride even more conspicuously.</p>
<p>i live in new orleans, which i consider to be as “southern” if not more so than anywhere else, yet the confederate flag really doesn’t have as big of a presence here as it seems to have in other parts of the South. the new orleans flag/ state of lousiana (pelican) flag are flown/ displayed much more often than a confederate flag ever would be.</p>
<p>newmassdad, i don’t blame you for being annoyed when words are put in your mouth; but frankly, i don’t think anyone really understands what you’re saying about W&L. everything you say about it has a hint of sarcasm/ condemnation/ negativity in an indirect way, but then you are quick to say afterward “i never said there was anything wrong with wealthy southerners into greek life.”</p>
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<p>I checked what was really written in the ISI book about W&L, and I have to make a correction. The Pol Sci department in disarray is at Vanderbilt, and NOT at Washington and Lee. Errors happen when relying too extensively on memory alone. However, the remaining comments–based on students’ interviews–were printed in the 2005 edition. Reading the Trident Online reinforces and confirms the validity of ISI’s findings, which, by the way, are very complimentary about many aspects of the school, especially the quality and integrity of the education.</p>
<p>NMD, the are some interesting provisions in the “Texas Annexation.” While it is a probably based on an urban legend, many Texans believe that Texas has maintained the right of voluntary secession from the United States.</p>
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<p>It is an urban legend. The annexation of Texas gave that state some interesting rights that other states didn’t have – and it would have been interesting to see what would have/could have happened if Texas had ever forced the issue. But it is generally agreed that those things went away when Texas was re-admitted to the Union following the Civil War.</p>
<p>I believe that the legend relies on the original constitution of Texas, and the alleged fact that Texas itself can be broken up. Heck, that is all I remember from a school field trip to City Hall. :)</p>
<p>I find it interesting that no one has mentioned that one reason Confederate flags have been so popular at W&L is that General Robert E. Lee, after whom the University is named, died as its president and is buried (along with his horse Traveller) on campus, in Lee Chapel. Few other university students have such historic reasons for flying the flag.</p>
<p>Also, Stonewall Jackson is buried in the town.</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken, W&L does not “fly” the Confederate Flag. There are old battle flags where Lee is buried.</p>
<p>Right - the university made a point of telling prospective students that it does not fly the Confederate flag. It’s just some students who do.</p>
<p>people often overlook the historical value of W&L in their constant disapproval of all the “white, wealthy, preppy, greek” blah blah blah; george washington’s endowment (i think a fifty thousand dollar gift at the time-the largest gift to any educational institution to that date) kept the university “alive” in the late 1700s; Robert E. Lee added business and law schools while he was president there, then considered gutsy moves. he remains buried there in historic landmark Lee chapel, with his famous horse traveller outside it. a history just as interesting (although with which im not terribly familiar) lives next door at VMI.</p>