University agrees to remove Confederate flags from campus following protests
After a wave of student-led protests on campus, officials at Washington and Lee University have agreed to remove Confederate flags from the main chamber of its Lee Chapel.
The changes came after a group of black students protested that the historic Virginia school was unwelcoming to minorities.
President Kenneth P. Ruscio’s announcement was a surprising move for the small, private liberal arts college in Lexington, which has long celebrated its Southern heritage. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee served as the university’s president after the Civil War, his crypt is beneath the chapel, and the school has gingerly addressed its ties to the Confederacy and its having profited from the possession and sale of slaves.
The Confederate banners — battle flags that Lee’s army flew as it fought Union forces — have adorned the campus chapel that bears Lee’s name since 1930, and university officials said they were a nod to history and not a message intended to offend anyone. Others, however, see the flags as hate symbols representative of slavery, racism and grievous times in the nation’s history.
Washington and Lee joined a growing list of U.S. colleges that are taking steps to acknowledge its history of slavery. In 2009, the College of William and Mary acknowledged the past ownership of slaves in its early years, and in 2006, Brown University issued a report on its ties to the slave trade.
The school’s student population had been largely divided, with conversations about race dominating the separation.
Kudos to these students for standing up for what they believe in.
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