The W&L Spectator

Note: *This article was originally published here, on The Generals Redoubt website by Kamron M. Spivey ‘24. A quick walk across Washington and Lee University’s campus — or a skim through recent museum publications — reveals a troubling pattern of factual inaccuracies, weak sourcing, and careless historical interpretation. These problems are not isolated mistakes.

Included within the recently released profile for Washington and Lee’s next President, in a list of “opportunities and challenges” he or she will face is the need to “understand and appreciate the University’s history.” This might be optimistically viewed as a positive statement of the Presidential search committee’s commitment to the importance of history. I am an optimist, but I am not a naïve one, and this choice of words leaves me with the opposite impression.

Washington and Lee University is undertaking a leadership search that could define the university for years to come, and W&L community members cannot trust the administration to put the school’s best interests ahead of its ideological preferences.

“What should be taught?” and “who should teach it?” For much of the 20th century, the answer to the first question was straightforward. The core curriculum of many universities consisted of English, history, math, science and languages. This was supplemented by courses in philosophy, religion, sociology and anthropology, art, music, politics, economics and other disciplines. The predominant approach to teaching these subjects emanated from Western Civilization and the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Last week, the Executive Committee (EC) voted to approve a set of amendments to the White Book, the governing document of W&L’s Honor System. These changes would shift control of Closed Hearings away from the elected EC toward panels largely shaped by the accused students’ school. Last week, the Executive Committee (EC) voted to approve a set of amendments to the White Book, the governing document of W&L’s Honor System.

Last week, the Executive Committee (EC) voted to approve a set of amendments to the White Book, the governing document of W&L’s Honor System. These changes would shift control of Closed Hearings away from the elected EC toward panels largely shaped by the accused students’ school.

This year, three candidates - John Beekman Youngblood ‘27, Stepan Onyshchuk ‘27, and Zane Openshaw ‘27L - are vying to become President of the Executive Committee. Youngblood served with Onyshchuk as a representative for the Class of 2027 last year and is currently Vice President of the body. Openshaw currently serves as the Class of 2027 Law representative. From 8 AM to 8 PM, all W&L students can vote in the student body elections via Canvas.

At Washington and Lee University, a grade point average (GPA) that once placed a student comfortably in the middle of their class would now fall well below average. If a student graduated from W&L in 2005, they needed a GPA above 3.325 to be in the top half of their class. By 2025, that number climbed to 3.715. The causes of this shift, and whether it is a problem, are disputed. The trend mirrors a national pattern of rising grades.

The ongoing war in Iran is an operation marred by criticism, with  polling conducted before the start of Operation Epic Fury by the University of Maryland finding that only 21% of Americans are in favor of the United States attack on Iran. This distaste for military intervention in the Middle East is not without good reason, as Americans are constantly reminded of foreign policy failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, rekindled after the Biden administration’s catastrophic 2021 withdrawal.

“If you’re simply comparing the performance of our endowment with the market in general … we are doing really bad,” Dr. Afshad Irani, the chair of W&L’s Accounting Department, told The Spectator. Below-target endowment returns have contributed to a 10% cut in discretionary funds for academic departments and come alongside rising tuition prices for W&L students.