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Administration

Chapter 1: Welcome to Lexington and W & L  

 

Mission Statement


Washington and Lee University provides a uniquely student-centered liberal arts, pre-professional, and legal education of the highest quality. The Washington and Lee experience is distinguished by personalized teaching, development of the capacity for leadership and service, and core values of personal honor, integrity, and civility.

http://www2.wlu.edu/web/page/normal/256.html


Honor System

A description of the Honor System appears below. The White Book can be found online: http://ec.wlu.edu/whitebook.pdf .

Honor is the moral cornerstone of Washington and Lee University. Since Robert E. Lee’s presidency, the concept of honor has been the guiding principle of life at Washington and Lee. The commitment to honor is recognized by every student, faculty member, administrator, and staff member of the University. Providing the common thread woven through the many aspects of this institution, honor creates a community of trust and respect affecting fundamentally the relationships of all its members.

The centrality of honor at Washington and Lee is contained in its Honor System, a legacy of Robert E. Lee. The Board of Trustees has granted to students the privilege of overseeing the administration of the Honor System. This privilege includes the responsibilities of (1) defining dishonorable acts (such as lying, cheating or stealing) that the current student generation views as breaches of the community's trust; (2) investigating and judicially managing honor hearings; (3) writing and revising the White Book, the Honor System policy and procedures manual; and (4) reporting directly to the Board of Trustees on the administration of the Honor System. The sole penalty for an Honor System violation is dismissal from the University. These responsibilities are administered by the Student Executive Committee, a group of students elected annually by their peers.

Academic life is essentially shaped by the commitment to honor. Assuming that students will behave honorably, the faculty grants flexibility in the scheduling of most final examinations, and all are taken without supervision. Take-home closed book examinations are a common occurrence. The pledge, “ On my honor, I have neither given nor received any unacknowledged aid on this (exam, test, paper, etc.),” expresses the student’s promise that the work submitted is his or hers alone and that no unfair advantage has been taken of peers by cheating. Students’ dedication to honorable behavior in all their academic work creates a strong bond of trust among them and between them and the faculty. This student dedication and the bond that it engenders also provides the basis for the faculty member’s commitment to accepting a student’s word.

The dedication to behave honorably is not confined to academic life. It is expected that students will respect each other’s word and intellectual and personal property in the residence halls and the Greek houses, on the playing field, in the city of Lexington, wherever Washington and Lee students take themselves. This principled expectation provides the foundation for the community of trust which students seek to create not only in the academic sphere but in life outside it as well.

The Honor System has been a unique feature of Washington and Lee University for well over a century. Thousands of students have lived under it while in residence, have been morally shaped by it, and as alumni and alumnae continue to be guided by it in their professional lives. Current students are as committed to it as were those who lived and studied here before them, and they maintain with firm conviction this distinctive ideal of the University.

For more information about the Honor System visit the Executive Committee Home Page.

The Pledge

All work at Washington and Lee is considered pledged under the Honor System.  Students may be asked to pledge any work submitted to a professor for course credit. The recommended form of the Pledge is: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received any unacknowledged aid on this (exam, test, paper, etc.).”


Speaking Tradition


An especially eloquent description of the University’s Speaking Tradition is found in this excerpt from the late President John W. Elrod’s Inaugural Address (October 21, 1995):

We are more than just fortunate to have received from those who have been here before us the legacy of an honor system which keeps alive this virtue in our daily affairs.  Civility is no less a practiced virtue at Washington and Lee when it is at its best.  The Speaking Tradition calls for the ordinary courtesy of greeting each other in our daily commerce.  It is a simple act but one whose meaning and value we should not underestimate.
     A greeting can be a phony gesture concealing indifference or disdain, but it can also express genuineness, warmth, concern, delight.  Our daily greetings should reflect the commitment that we will not be strangers to each other, that we will know and care for each other as friends and not as strangers.
     But the familiar greeting is only one way in which we interact with each other through language.  We speak with, about, and to each other in so many ways: in class, in our newspapers, in casual conversations in the Snack Bar or on the Colonnade, in fraternity houses, in faculty offices, in social settings, and on the playing fields.  It is vital to the academic community that we show respect for each other in the language that we use.  Civility elevates the respect for each other, called for by the honor system with regard to truth-telling and property, into out daily conversations with each other.  The traditions of civility means that we will show respect for each other not only regarding each other’s physical and intellectual property but also in the way that we relate to each other through language.  Language is perhaps the most fundamental form of human interaction, and in practicing the virtue of civility we show respect for each other in this essential form of community life.
     What is quite interesting and important about this particular academic community is that it has over time discovered the importance of respect as one of the essential ingredients that holds a community together, and it has grounded the principle of respect in two of its lasting virtues and traditions, honor in the Honor System and civility in its Speaking Tradition.  We are fortunate, indeed privileged, to live in such a community where the dignity and value of each person is incarnated in community-defining traditions and which calls upon each of its members to relate to others through them.  In fact, by talking as much as we do about these two virtues, we encumber ourselves with a special responsibility toward each other in ways that likely do not hold in other communities which pay less attention to honor and civility.  And we should not think that we have behaved honorably when we express it only on the hill and not in all other settings which bring us together in this community.
     Respect knows no physical boundaries.  If we are an honorable and civil community, then respect for each other will be as present in our fraternity houses, on our playing fields, and in our residences as on the hill.  And it will also spill over into our relations with those who are not formal members of Washington and Lee but who live and work together with us in Lexington and beyond.
 

Business Hours and Holidays
 

Administrative offices at Washington and Lee are open from 8:30-4:30, Monday through Friday. 

The University observes as holidays Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and the day after Thanksgiving; we also close for three days during the Christmas/New Year’s holiday season.
 

Coffee at the Alumni House
 

Coffee is brewed daily in the Alumni House, adjacent to the Gilliam Admissions House. Members of the University community are welcome to drop in and enjoy coffee or tea and camaraderie daily. There is no charge for coffee or hot tea; cold beverages are available in the refrigerator in the Alumni House kitchen for a nominal fee.
 

Shopping/Dining/etc – Recommendations from some colleagues
 

(1) GROCERIES: You will find reasonable prices on food at Wal-Mart (on Route 11, one mile north of campus). Look for general groceries as well as gourmet/vegetarian specialty items at Kroger (a half-mile east of campus on Nelson St.). There’s also a nice Food Lion in Stonewall Square Shopping Center (behind Hardee’s). Very good wine and beer selections can be found at Washington Street Purveyor, Main Street Market, and Kroger. 

(2) GYMS: The W&L Fitness Center has excellent equipment and very good hours and it is free to faculty and staff.  Go before 9am or after 8pm to avoid crowds (it's open weeknights till 10:30).

(3) VEGETARIAN/ORGANIC: Healthy Foods Coop (on Washington Street, right next to campus) has great lunch specials and bulk foods. Blue Heron (up the street from Healthy Foods, on the other side) is open Monday through Saturday for lunch, Friday and Saturday for dinner, and has food / live music Thursday nights at 7:30.  Check out Cool Spring Market on South Main Street for healthy foods and interesting ingredients.

(4) NIGHTLIFE & ENTERTAINMENT: Hull's Drive-In (http://www.hullsdrivein.com), 4 miles north of  Lexington, on Route 11), is fun for a date or hanging out with friends. Jordan House in Lexington has live entertainment in a coffeehouse atmosphere. Lexington’s Theatre at Lime Kiln offers outdoor performances (http://www.theateratlimekiln.com).  Roanoke (less than 1 hour away) has great restaurants,  museums, theater, and a big coffeehouse that's open until midnight.  Take I-81 south to exit 143, then I-581/220 to downtown (exits 4-6).  Charlottesville (home of U.Va.., just over an hour in the other direction) also has good clubs, coffeehouses, and restaurants.  Take I-81 north to  I-64 east to Charlottesville; follow signs for U.Va. (see web links at the end of this section).

Most entertainment on campus is open to faculty. Events are listed in the daily Campus Notices distributed by email. For access to Washington and Lee University calendars, and links to sports schedules, and exhibits: http://www2.wlu.edu/calendars/.

Note also – Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton for Shakespearean plays in an historically accurate setting (http://www.ishakespeare.com); Roanoke Express hockey, Roanoke Dazzle basketball, Salem Avalanche baseball (http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/sports.html); and Washington and Lee’s own Outing Club (http://outingclub.wlu.edu/ ). Virginia has a thriving winemaking industry. For a guide to the wineries (and their many festivals) see http://www.virginiawines.org.

(5) CLOTHES, PET SUPPLIES, BEDS, APPLIANCES, OTHER MAJOR SHOPPING: There are some great specialty stores in Lexington, but for general shopping you may wish to visit the Valley View Mall in Roanoke.  There is a Target near the mall as well. Take I-81 south to exit 143, then I-581 exit 3E to Hershberger Road; stay right and merge onto Valley View Blvd. The Tractor's Supply, located at 800 N Lee Hwy in Lexington has housefeed and Hill's Science Diet.

(6) MISC.  DINING: The Southern Inn (on Main Street) is a popular Lexington restaurant, and is open till 10pm every night of the week (Roast duck breast is highly recommended).  There's also a Waffle House near Wal-Mart for late-night munchies.  Other local favorites include Wilson-Walker House and Sheridan Livery; both provide a more upscale atmosphere.  The Palms and Pink Cadillac offer an assortment of entrees and sandwiches (Pink Cadillac also provides an interesting atmosphere that sends you back to the 50’s – find it about 8 minutes south of town on Route 11).  Salerno’s and Frank’s are favorites for pizza, subs, and pasta dishes (both have $5 pizza night on Wednesday). For Mexican food visit Don Tequila’s (across from Kroger), and for Chinese food, order from Crystal (near Wal-Mart), Hunan (behind Don Tequila), or Canton (Main St., Buena Vista).

Additional restaurant, shopping, and entertainment information:

Lexington:  http://www.lexingtonvirginia.com/or

                http://www.lexva.com/

Roanoke:  http://www.roanoke.com/

Staunton:  http://www.staunton.va.us/   

Charlottesville:  http://www.charlottesvilletourism.org/ or

                         http://www.c-ville.com/

 

 

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Page Updated: Thursday, October 6, 2005

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