In response to cultural critiques of its founders, the Board of Trustees at Washington & Lee University is giving them a makeover.
In an e-mail to “The W & L Community,” J. Donald Childress ’70, Rector of the Board of Trustees, and William C. Dudley, President, announced that in Lee Chapel:
~”Portraits of Robert E. Lee and George Washington in civilian clothing will replace the portraits of Lee and Washington in military uniforms that currently hang in Lee Chapel.
~”The doors to the statue chamber in the 1883 addition to Lee Chapel will be closed during university events.”
It’s perhaps understandable that since General Lee’s uniform was that of the confederacy, some might have a meltdown, but General Washington’s was not. Moreover, if he had not worn the uniform of his country, would we have a country?
