<p>First, let me introduce myself. I am a Yankee (raised in New York City, and no not in the nice parts). I am a first generation immigrant. I am a die-hard liberal (and always will be). I know what life is like on food stamps. I do not own a mansion (nor even a house) and I do not drive a fancy car (try a '96 Taurus). I am half-Jewish. I am a product of the NYC public school system and had never attended a school that is even close to 50% white until college. I am also proud to be a sophomore at Washington and Lee University, here on a full-ride scholarship. Therefore I do not exist.</p>
<p>I am not even sure where to begin tackling everything that has been said on this thread, except by wishing the OP cross-posted on the W&L forum. First off, I find that both sides actually know very little about the “Confederate Flag.” First of all, what most people call the “confederate flag” actually was not for most of the time the Confederacy existed. Many people would not even recognize what was actually the Confederate Flag for most of the nation’s existence - the ACTUAL stars and bars. If you want to know what it looks like, it is very similar to Georgia’s current flag. The flag that is flown from a minority of student’s windows is actually the Battle Flag. The Battle Flag had nothing to do with slavery, but it is representative of a generation of people who died defending their homeland (personally, I still can’t stand it because they were shooting at Americans, but lets at least get some facts on here). </p>
<p>Second, I agree with Xiggi that it would be good to look at the history of Beta Theta Pi at W&L. In fact if you come to campus take a trip down to the Beta Theta Pi house, it is right across the street from Lee Chapel. It stands there empty. The fraternity disbanded. A symbol that hazing is not tolerated by the school that owns your fraternity house and that if you do it, the consequences can be severe. Same with the alcohol policy, there is currently a fraternity on campus that is one strike away from suspension because of things as simple as having a party during the wrong day of the week. Does that sound like an out of control drinking culture to you?</p>
<p>To temper what Laxer said a bit, I would wager that three-quarters of the male W&L population (and that’s probably a serious understatement) has no idea how to go about tying a bow-tie. And the next gentleman who decides to wear a coat to a football game will probably die of heat-stroke (I made the mistake of wearing a black shirt once and felt like I was going to collapse any moment in the Southern sun . . .). In fact, I’ve met quite a few guys here who can’t even tie your run-of-the-mill tie. (Luckily if they join a fraternity they will learn, which could save them once it comes time for job-searching).</p>
<p>Is it true that some students were opposed to coeducation? Yes. Is it true that a few professors were? Yes, but not many - just about every college in America, including W&L, has a liberal faculty. Is it true that whole classes of alumni were? Yes, I heard the class of '46 was adamantly against coeducation. Unfortunately you don’t run into class of '46 members or class of '52 members or even class of '86 members much anymore. Gee, I wonder where they all went. For some reason, every student at W&L knew when they were applying that when they got to W&L it would be close to if not at 50/50. I wonder why . . . maybe because by the time they applied in 2002,2003,2004 or 2005 it already was. If any of them had a problem with coeducation, they could have gone to Randolph-Macon.</p>
<p>I will finish this with what I posted about the Washington Post Magazine on the Shepherd Povery Program article on the W&L forum:</p>
<p>"It is a wonderful program - I haven’t had a chance to take the intro class yet but I have heard great things and it is always bringing in interesting speakers and it has definitely helped bring service to the forefront of the minds of W&L students (hopefully somewhere it will stay for their entire lives).</p>
<p>I am happy that the article is showing off our program to the country in a positive light, it is a great program. The only problem I have with the article is that the author acts like a typical journalist. To make something really good look not only really good but also really special, you make everything around it look bad, so it absolutely shines in comparison. Thus the references to W&L being a school of rich uncaring white kids who never venture into the “black” part of Lexington (I’ve been everywhere in Lex and am still not sure where the good and bad parts are) and instead are too busy getting drunk at “frat parties on the river” or are too busy doing the only things sororities do: judging other women. Because you know that’s all fraternities and sororities do is get drunk and judge other people. It’s not like they’re involved in service at all. The fact is without the support of the Greek system, W&L’s service projects would not be nearly as successful. They hold tons of fundraisers, blood drives, and other events as well as organizing groups for service projects such as Nabors Service Day."</p>
<p>By the way, there is going to be a minority population of completely ignorant students on every campus. W&L has its share, although that ignorance might come out in different ways (not understanding that saying the south will rise again can be insulting vs not understanding that just because someone is from the south doesnt mean you can call them a redneck)</p>