Robert E. Lee, Founders Day, and More
(An assortment of TGR SWAG sits on display in the Fancy Hill Office reception room on Founders Day 2025. Source: Elijah Knorpp)
January has been a great month for our beloved namesakes, George Washington and Robert E. Lee. We held several Founders Day celebrations across the country in their honor, and we have even more activities planned in the next few weeks. But we need your help!
For starters, I would like to remind everyone of our Annual Fund challenge match. Through the immense generosity of several donors, we are continuing the $400,000 match through George Washington’s birthday on February 22, 2025. If you have not yet donated this year—and if you still have RMDs to direct—please consider giving to your friends, The Generals Redoubt.
We also could really use your help in two activities.
The first regards a survey sent out by the university about their proposed new museum of institutional history. While we highly encourage everyone to fill out the survey—and remind the administration that our namesakes must be the highlight of whatever new museum they erect—we also encourage you to submit your opinions to The W&L Spectator for publication.
The diligent team of students who comprise that magazine sent out the following plea this week:
With the recent celebration of Martin Luther King Day, Lee-Jackson Day, Founders’ Day, and other events in the rearview mirror, the Lexington community continues to debate its history — and how to best honor it. Now, Washington and Lee’s administration has joined in the discussion.
The Co-Chairs of Washington and Lee’s Museum Working Group recently sent a survey to W&L faculty, staff, alumni, and students asking for their thoughts on the forthcoming Institutional History Museum. We are glad that the school is showing interest in the community’s opinion and encourage everyone to share their views by filling it out.
However, given how the school’s administration has hidden, desecrated, and ignored our university’s history in recent years, The W&L Spectator views this moment as an opportunity to publicly demonstrate that Generals do not want this treatment to continue or be reflected in the new Institutional History Museum.
We humbly ask you, in addition to submitting your opinions in the survey, to write to The Spectator, where we will collect and publish your thoughts. If you wish to write a brief — maximum of two hundred words — opinion on any aspect of the museum or W&L’s treatment of its history, please send it to editor@wluspectator.com with the subject line “Institutional History,” while including how you would like us to attribute your piece.
We look forward to ensuring the conversation remains open and in the public square.
Please send your responses to The Spectator and make your voice heard!
Next, I invite all of you to tune into an upcoming webinar fundraiser to help save the Arlington Reconciliation Memorial. As you may know, this beautiful monument, which was designed by VMI-graduate Moses Ezekiel in 1914, was removed from Arlington National Cemetery last December. Unfortunately, revisionist leaders have falsely accused the reconciliatory monument of being a divisive symbol of white supremacy.
The fate of the memorial remains unclear, and our dear friend and alumnus, Gib Kerr, ’85, will be speaking against the dangers of presentism. Joined by Dr. Ann McLean—a proud defender of Virginian heritage—Kerr will discuss “America’s Lee Legacy”, and the great honor Robert E. Lee brought to this nation.
The webinar costs $25 to attend, and all proceeds will go towards the cause of preserving the Reconciliation Memorial. You can learn more about the event by visiting our website.
In the meantime, we hope you will enjoy seeing a photo recap of our various Founders Day celebrations. And stay tuned for the amazing activities we have coming your way this February.