Qualla: Washington and Lee University

Washington and Lee University: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hal Jespersen, Public domain. George Washington's $20,000 gift to Liberty Hall Academy in 1796 came in the form of 100 shares of stock in the James River Canal Company. It was, at the time, one of the largest endowments any American school had ever received. Today, those original shares still throw off about $1.87 a year toward every Washington and Lee student's tuition. It is not the most useful sum in modern dollars. It is, however, the longest unbroken line of educational support in United States history. That line runs straight through both the man on the bills and the man whose name was added later. Washington and Lee carries two names because two men, each contested in his own way, kept the place alive at moments when it could very easily have closed.

Image: Hal Jespersen | Public domain

Washington and Lee University: From Augusta Academy to Liberty Hall

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Zeete, CC BY-SA 4.0. The school was founded in 1749 by Scots-Irish Presbyterian pioneers about twenty miles north of its current campus. They called it Augusta Academy. In 1780 it moved to Lexington and was chartered as Liberty Hall Academy. The first bachelor's degree was awarded in 1785. In 1795, a...

Image: Zeete | CC BY-SA 4.0

Washington and Lee University: The Lee Years

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mathew Benjamin Brady, CC0. In the fall of 1865, Robert E. Lee accepted the presidency of Washington College. He had several offers from businesses that wanted to trade on his name. He chose the college, he said, because he wanted to train young men to do their duty. He served five years. During that time h...

Image: Mathew Benjamin Brady | CC0

Washington and Lee University: The Name on the Building

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain. Lee Chapel sits at the center of campus and contains Lee's tomb. In 2014, the university removed a large Confederate battle flag from the chapel after Black students protested that the school was unwelcoming to minorities. President Kenneth Ruscio apologized publicly for the scho...

Image: Carol M. Highsmith | Public domain

Washington and Lee University: The Honor System

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Phillip Romer, Public domain. The honor system that traces back to Lee, and is described by W&L as having taken shape in the 1840s, is unusual even among American colleges. There is no list of rules. The only forbidden offenses are lying, cheating, and stealing. The Student Body administers it through an elec...

Image: Phillip Romer | Public domain

Washington and Lee University: Traditions and Eccentricities

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY 3.0. Every four years the school stages a Mock Convention for whichever party doesn't hold the presidency. It has correctly picked the out-of-power nominee for twenty-one of the past twenty-eight elections. C-SPAN has carried it gavel to gavel. The Washington Post once called it the n...

Image: Bobak Ha'Eri | CC BY 3.0