Flag controversy at university | Washington & Lee University remove Confederate flags
The motto of Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, is “Non incautus futuri,” which means “Not unmindful of the future.” But the campus has had to be very mindful of the past in recent months because of a dispute over Confederate flags.
The dispute, which was recently settled, began in April, when 12 law students at the university, named for George Washington and Robert E. Lee, petitioned the administration to “remove all Confederate flags from its property.”
The display of Dixie banners anywhere has been a sore point since the end of the Civil War, nearly 150 years ago. While some people see the flags only as historical reminders of the War Between the States, others see them as declarations of racism.
In an initial response to the students’ demands, the president of the university, Kenneth P. Ruscio, said that Lee Chapel, the on-campus resting place of General Lee, “displays replicas of eight battle flags that represented different armies of the Confederate States of America….These replicas are designed for historical and educational purposes. I am aware of no similar flags displayed anywhere else on our campus.”
One of the law students noted that “during orientation, we had to go inside Lee Chapel and sign an honor contract to uphold our honor according to the honor of Robert E. Lee. I’m a native of Richmond. I know what it’s like to remember the past. However, I didn’t feel the racism and disrespect [then] as I did in being asked to uphold an honor that aligns with the views of Lee.”
Ruscio had hoped for a compromise, observing that “the fundamental question for us is whether people with different backgrounds, different experiences and different opinions can address difficult questions and…strive, with mutual respect, to better understand each other and to find common ground….In the days ahead, I hope we each find that elusive balance between the courage of our own convictions and the humility that enables us to learn from others.”
Recently, however, the president resolved the issue in the students’ favor by removing the flags. He also apologized for the school’s ownership of slaves more than 150 years ago. “We acknowledge that this was a regrettable chapter in our history,” he said.
In response, one of the students remarked, “I feel like we made a tremendous difference.”