"Memorializing Men of the Lost Cause: Public Opinion of Confederate Monuments in Virginia 1900-Present"
A similar situation took place at Washington and Lee University (W&L) in Lexington with the university president forming a commission on Institutional History and Community following the events in Charlottesville in August 2017. The final part of the commission report focused on the built environment around the campus. The report stated that the “built environment - and the paintings, sculptures and photographs that enhance it, and the
nomenclature used to name it - has the potential to inform one’s experience and contour memory.”
Lee Chapel plays a significant role in the community of Washington and Lee and helps portray the history of the institution to those who attend and visit the university. Lee Chapel not only plays a significant role in the community of Washington and Lee but also in the surrounding community and the South
Following the Commission's for Washington & Lee (W&L) they made the suggestion that University events should no longer be held in within the chapel. The Commission felt that the way in which Lee is being portrayed in the chapel conflicts with the way the University wants to portray him to the public. However W&L decided that it would go against the Commission's suggestion. Inside Higher Ed reported about this decision HERE.
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education also reported about this HERE.
The University is also trying to come to terms with the white men who were associated with the University. The University chose to change the names of two buildings on campus that were associated with Lee and Stonewall Jackson, as well as one of the founders of the University who left the school the majority of his possessions including lands and slaves. Read more about other changes at the University HERE.