The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 by Scots-Irish Presbyterian pioneers and soon named Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. The academy moved to Lexington in 1780, when it was chartered as Liberty Hall Academy, and built its first facility near town in 1782. The academy granted its first bachelor's degree in 1785. Liberty Hall is said to have admitted its first
African American student when
John Chavis, a
free Black man, enrolled in 1795. Chavis accomplished much in his life including fighting in the
American Revolution, studying at both Liberty Hall and the College of New Jersey (now
Princeton University), becoming an ordained Presbyterian minister, and opening a school that instructed white and poor black students in
North Carolina. He is believed to be the first black student to enroll in higher education in the United States, although he did not receive a degree. Washington and Lee enrolled its next African American student in 1966 in the law school. In 1796,
George Washington endowed the academy with $20,000 in the form of 100 shares of
James River Canal stock, at the time one of the largest gifts ever given to an educational institution in the United States. The shares were originally a gift given to Washington by the
Virginia General Assembly. Washington's gift continues to provide nearly $1.87 a year toward every student's tuition. The campus took its current architectural form in the 1820s when a local merchant, "Jockey" John Robinson, an uneducated Irish immigrant, donated funds to build a central building. For the dedication celebration in 1824, Robinson supplied a huge barrel of whiskey, which he intended for the dignitaries in attendance. But according to a contemporary history, the rabble broke through the barriers and created pandemonium, which ended only when college officials demolished the whiskey barrel with an axe. A justice of the Virginia State Supreme Court, Alex. M. Harman Jr. ('44 Law), re-created the episode in 1976 for the dedication of the new law school building by having several barrels of Scotch imported (without the unfortunate dénouement). Robinson also left his estate to Washington College. The estate included between 70 and 80
enslaved people. Until 1852, the institution benefited from their enslaved labor and, in some cases, from their sale. In 2014, Washington and Lee University joined such colleges as
Harvard University,
Brown University, the
University of Virginia, and
The College of William & Mary in researching, acknowledging, and publicly regretting their participation in the institution of slavery. During the
Civil War, the students of Washington College raised the
Confederate flag in support of Virginia's secession. The students formed the Liberty Hall Volunteers, as part of the
Stonewall Brigade under
Confederate States Army general
Stonewall Jackson and marched from Lexington. Later in the war, during Hunter's Raid, Union Captain
Henry A. du Pont refused to destroy the Colonnade due to its support of the statue of George Washington,
Old George.
Lee years from 1865 to 1870 In the fall of 1865,
Robert E. Lee, the former general of the Confederacy, accepted an offer to become president of Washington College. Despite suffering financial hardship at the time and having offers for several business opportunities, he said he chose to become the college president because he wanted to train "young men to do their duty". (Lee believed that the business offers were meant primarily to trade on his name). During his tenure, Lee established the first journalism courses (which were limited and only lasted several years) and added engineering courses, a business school, and law school to the college curriculum, under the conviction that those occupations should be intimately and inextricably linked with the liberal arts. That was a radical idea: engineering, journalism, and law had always been considered technical crafts, not intellectual endeavors, and the study of business was viewed with skepticism. Lee's emphasis on student self-governance for Washington College remains the distinguishing character of the student-run Honor System today. And, ardent about restoring national unity, he successfully recruited white men as students from throughout the reunited nation, North and
South. However, it has been argued that one of Lee's failings as president of Washington College was an apparent indifference to crimes of violence towards blacks committed by students at the college. Historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor notes that students at Washington College formed their own chapter of the KKK and were known by the local
Freedmen's Bureau to attempt to abduct and rape black schoolgirls from the nearby black schools. There were also at least two attempted lynchings by Washington students during Lee's tenure. Yet Lee seemed to punish the racial harassment more laxly than he did more trivial offenses or turned a blind eye to it altogether. Lee died on October 12, 1870, after five years as Washington College president. The college's name was almost immediately changed to Washington and Lee University to honor Lee. On February 4, 1871, the name change was formalized by the
Virginia General Assembly. (The board of trustees announced the discontinuation of "Founders Day" on June 4, 2021.) ODK Chapters, known as Circles, are located on over 300 college campuses. The society recognizes achievement in the five areas of scholarship; athletics; campus/community service, social/religious activities, and campus government; journalism, speech and the mass media; and creative and performing arts. ODK is a quasi-secret society with regard to the way in which its members are selected and kept secret for a period of time. Membership in the Omicron Delta Kappa Society is regarded as one of the highest collegiate honors that can be awarded to an individual, along with
Phi Kappa Phi and
Phi Beta Kappa. Some circles limit membership to less than the top one quarter of one percent of students on their respective campuses. Omicron Delta Kappa continues to maintain its headquarters in Lexington and is a major presence at W&L. During the first half of the 20th century, the institution began its traditions of the Fancy Dress Ball and Mock Convention. Both of these are still staples of the W&L experience. ,
Old George, atop the Colonnade The second half of the 20th century saw Washington and Lee move from being an all-men's college to a co-ed institution. The School of Law enrolled its first women in 1972 and the undergraduate program enrolled its first woman in 1985. Washington and Lee built new buildings to house its science departments as well as a new School of Law facility. Further, W&L successfully completed several multimillion-dollar capital campaigns. Among many alumni who have followed in George Washington's footsteps by donating generously,
Rupert Johnson Jr., a 1962 graduate who is vice chairman of the $600 billion
Franklin Templeton investment management firm, gave $100 million to Washington and Lee in June 2007, establishing a merit-based financial aid and curriculum-enrichment program. In 2014, a large Confederate battle flag and a number of related state flags were removed from
University Chapel, after a group of black students protested that the school was unwelcoming to minorities. In his letter, President Kenneth P. Ruscio publicly apologized for the school's ownership of about 80 enslaved people during the period from 1826 to 1852, some of whom were forced to build a dormitory on campus. Some students, faculty, and alumni have advocated that Washington and Lee disassociate itself from Lee, including advocating a change of name. Other students and alumni have defended the association with Lee. In July 2020, for the first time, faculty (by more than a three-quarters vote) and the executive committee of the Student Body called for Robert E. Lee's name to be removed from the name of the institution. The board of trustees announced the formation of a committee to consider name-change, removing portraits of Lee from diplomas, and how names and symbols of Lee and confederates "uphold slavery" and "abhorrent racist sentiment." On June 4, 2021, after 11 months of deliberation, the board voted 22–6 to keep the name. ==Campus==