Not Unmindful

As a student at Washington and ***, I could leave my purse anywhere on campus at anytime of the day or night, and feel confident it would be exactly where I left it when I returned. Yet, I couldn’t go through a single day without feeling like an outsider because I was not white. I could not go a single day without thinking “where the hell am I?” Every day I saw racial micro- and macro-aggressions, whether directed at me or someone else. I felt like I was in an alternative universe— the campus was so safe in terms of my property and so friendly in terms of the Speaking Tradition yet sexual assault and racism were so rampant and accepted. Read her full letter.

Jess Steinmetz Chaudhry, ’08U

At this moment in time, I am afraid that if the university does not take the opportunity to grapple realistically and forcefully with all of the connotations of its name it will be permanently left behind by the forces of history and become a shameful footnote instead of the strong institution of learning it would like to be. Read my story…

Kristen Berg, ’95U

Our beautiful, peaceful town of Lexington is on its way to being a last bastion of Lost Cause monuments. Virginia Flaggers descend on the town every year, brandishing Confederate flags. The KKK papered our campus with hate speech. What parent in their right mind would send their child to a place that is a magnet for hate groups like this?” Read my letter…

Elizabeth A. Green, 97U

I’ve been drifting away from the University for a while now, especially since Charlottesville. It was a long journey that ended in me not wanted to talk about where I went to undergrad. Now, I answer, William & Mary. But, I want to be proud of the University again. On it’s own educational terms. Not some mythologized history. Read more…

Timothy C. Truxell, ’91U
1991, Undergrad

My W&L story is similar to a majority of alumni in that I came from a white, upper middle-class, private school background. By my sophomore year, I was more into ROTC than I was fraternity life. That was the year the scales started to fall from my eyes. I ended up spending 27 plus years in uniform and had the privilege of working alongside many tremendous people of all backgrounds, both in the Army and in the countries we worked in. Washington and Lee in 2020 remains an anachronism, and not in a good way. W&L can and should change. Read More…

Paul G. Schlimm, ’87U

I was done with Washington & Lee. At first, I did everything a young alumnus was supposed to do, and even though money was tight, I gave.As time wore on, I felt very much like an outsider, especially up in the liberal oasis of New York City, over 400 miles away from W&L. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that the romanticized version of Robert E. Lee seemed to exist only in the South. And I realized the University had to change. Read more…

Tom Hespos, ’94U