Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University ( Washington and Lee or W & L ) is a private liberal arts university in Lexington , Virginia , United States . Washington and Lee ' s 325 acre campus sits at the heart of Lexington and abuts the Virginia Military Institute in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Allegheny Mountains . The rural campus is approximately 50 miles from Roanoke , Virginia , 140 miles from Richmond , Virginia , and 180 miles from Washington , DC . Washington and Lee was founded in 1749 as a small classical school by Scotch - Irish Presbyterian pioneers . In 1796 , George Washington endowed the struggling academy with a gift of stock . In gratitude , the school was renamed for the first United States President . In 1865 , General Robert E . Lee served as president of the college until his death in 1870 , prompting the college to be renamed as Washington and Lee University . Washington and Lee is the ninth oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the second oldest in Virginia . The University consists of three academic units : The College ; the Williams School of Commerce , Economics , and Politics ; and the School of Law . The University hosts 23 intercollegiate athletic teams which compete as part of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference of the NCAA Division III . History . The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy , about north of its present location . In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of revolutionary fervor . The academy moved to Lexington in 1780 , when it was chartered as Liberty Hall Academy , and built its first facility near town in 1782 . The Academy became a college when it granted its first bachelor of arts degree in 1785 , making it the ninth oldest institution of higher education in the country . In 1796 , George Washington endowed the academy with the largest gift ever given to an educational institution at that time : $ 20 , 000 in stock in James River Canal stock , at the time the largest gift ever given to an educational institution in the United States . Washington ' s gift continues to provide nearly $ 1 . 87 a year toward every student ' s tuition . The gift rescued Liberty Hall from near - certain insolvency . In gratitude , the trustees changed the school ' s name to Washington Academy ; in 1813 it was chartered as Washington College . An 8 - foot tall statue of George Washington , known as " Old George " , has sat atop the historic Colonnade since 1844 in memory of Washington ' s gift . Liberty Hall is said to have admitted its first African - American student when John Chavis , a free black , enrolled in 1795 . Chavis accomplished much in his life including fighting in the American Revolution , studying at both Liberty Hall and the College of New Jersey ( now Princeton University ) , becoming an ordained Presbyterian minister , and opening a school that instructed white and poor black students in North Carolina . He is believed to be the first black student to enroll in higher education in the United States , although he did not receive a degree . Washington and Lee enrolled its next African - American student in 1966 in the law school . The campus took its current architectural form in the 1820s when a local merchant , " Jockey " John Robinson , an uneducated Irish immigrant , donated funds to build a central building . For the dedication celebration in 1824 , Robinson supplied a huge barrel of whiskey , which he intended for the dignitaries in attendance . But according to a contemporary history , the rabble broke through the barriers and created pandemonium , which ended only when college officials demolished the whiskey barrel with an ax . A justice of the Virginia State Supreme Court , Christian Compton ( ' 50 undergraduate , ' 53 law ) , re - created the episode in 1976 for the dedication of the new law school by having several barrels of Scotch imported ( without the unfortunate dénouement ) . During the Civil War , the students of Washington College raised the Confederate flag in support of Virginia ' s secession . The students formed the " Liberty Hall Volunteers " , as part of the Stonewall Brigade under General Stonewall Jackson and marched from Lexington . Later in the war , during Hunter ' s Raid , Captain Henry DuPont refused to destroy the Colonnade due to its support of the statue of George Washington , " Old George " . The Lee years . After the Civil War , General Robert E . Lee turned down several financially tantalizing offers of employment that would merely have traded on his name , and instead accepted the post of college president for three reasons . First , he had been superintendent of the United States Military Academy , so higher education was in his background . Second , and more important , he believed that it was a position in which he could actually make a contribution to the reconciliation of the nation . Third , the Washington family were his in - laws : his wife was the great - granddaughter of Martha Washington . Lee had long looked on George Washington as a hero and role model , so it is hardly surprising that he welcomed the challenge of leading a college endowed by and named after the first president . Arguably Lee ' s finest achievement was transforming a small , not particularly distinguished Latin academy into a forward - looking institution of higher education . He established the first journalism courses ( which were limited and only lasted several years ) , and he added both a business school and a law school to the college curriculum , under the conviction that those occupations should be intimately and inextricably linked with the liberal arts . That was a radical idea : Journalism and law had always been considered technical crafts , not intellectual endeavors , and the study of business was seen with skepticism . Yet Lee ' s concept has become universally accepted , and today it would seem subversive if anyone suggested that education in journalism , business , and law should be kept separate from the liberal arts and sciences . Lee was also the father of an Honor System and a speaking tradition at Washington College that continue to the present time . And , ardent about restoring national unity , he successfully recruited students from the North as well as the South . Lee died on October 12 , 1870 , after just five years as Washington College president . The college ' s name was almost immediately changed to Washington and Lee University , linking Lee ' s name with Washington ' s . The university ' s motto , Nōn Incautus Futūrī ' , meaning " " Not unmindful of the future " , " is an adaptation of the Lee family motto . Lee ' s son , George Washington Custis Lee , followed as the school ' s next president . General Lee and much of his family - including his wife , his seven children , and his father , the Revolutionary War hero " Light Horse Harry " Lee - are buried in the Lee Chapel on campus , which faces the main row of antebellum college buildings . Robert E . Lee ' s beloved horse , Traveller , is buried outside , near the wall of the Chapel . The twentieth and twenty - first centuries . After General Lee ' s death , the University continued his program of modernization and expansion . In 1905 , the Board of Trustees formally organizes a School of Commerce in order to train students in business and finance alongside the College and the School of Law . In 1995 , Ernest Williams II of the Class of 1938 , endowed the School of Commerce which was renamed the Ernest Williams II School of Commerce , Economics , and Politics . The Williams School is one of the few accredited schools of business at a top liberal arts college by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and consists of Departments in Business , Economics , Politics , and Accounting . Also in 1905 , Andrew Carnegie donated $ 55 , 000 to the University for the erection of a new library . Also during the earlier half of the Twentieth Century , the University began its traditions of the Fancy Dress Ball and Mock Convention . Both of these are still staples of the W & L experience . The second half of the Twentieth Century saw Washington and Lee move from being an all - boys college to a co - ed University . The School of Law enrolls its first women in 1972 and in 1985 at the undergraduate level . The University built new buildings to house its science departments as well as a new School of Law facility . Further , W & L sucessefully completes several multi - million dollar capital campaigns . Among many alumni who have followed in George Washington ' s footsteps by donating generously , Rupert Johnson , Jr . , a 1962 graduate who is vice chairman of the $ 600 - billion Franklin Templeton investment management firm , gave $ 100 million to Washington and Lee in June 2007 , establishing a merit - based financial aid and curriculum enrichment program . Campus . The row of brick buildings that form the Colonnade , which traces to 1824 , is a U . S . National Historic Landmark . Separately , the Lee Chapel is also a National Historic Landmark . The British writer John Cowper Powys once called W & L the " most beautiful college campus in America . " The poet and dramatist John Drinkwater remarked , " If this scene were set down in the middle of Europe , the whole continent would flock to see it ! " In recent years the university has invested heavily in upgrading and expanding its academic , residential , athletic , research , arts and extracurricular facilities . The new facilities include an undergraduate library , gymnasium , art / music / theater complex , dorms , student center , student activities pavilion and tennis pavilion , as well as renovation of the journalism and commerce buildings and renovation of every fraternity house and construction of several sorority houses . Lewis Hall , the 30 - year - old home of the law school , as well as athletic fields and the antebellum Historic Front Campus buildings , are all currently undergoing major renovation . In 1977 , " The New Yorker " published a cartoon showing a family in a car in front of the Washington and Lee campus . The caption was : " The College of Your Choice " . Organization and administration . The school is governed by a Board of Trustees that has a maximum of 34 members . The undergraduate calendar is an unusual three - term system with 12 - week fall and winter terms followed by a four - week spring term . The spring - term courses include topical , often unique , seminars , faculty - supervised study abroad , and some domestic and international internships . The law calendar consists of the more traditional early - semester system . Demographics . Washington and Lee was essentially all male until 1972 , when women were admitted to the law school ; the first female undergraduates enrolled in 1985 . As of 2006 , the University ' s undergraduate population was equally divided between men and women . In 2006 , the number of women receiving undergraduate degrees exceeded the number of men for the first time in the school ' s history . The law school population is more generally 40 percent women , 60 percent men . In 1795 , the first known Black person was admitted to the school , John Chavis , who became a teacher and Presbyterian minister . Walter Blake and Carl Linwood Smothers become the first African - American students to graduate from Washington and Lee University in 1972 , the same year women were first admitted . The University has worked to increase the number of minority faculty and students . Minority students now comprise approximately 15 percent of the student body . Honor system . Washington and Lee maintains a rigorous honor system that traces directly to Robert E . Lee , who said , " We have but one rule here , and it is that every student must be a gentleman . " Students , upon entering the university , vow to act honorably in all academic and nonacademic endeavors . The Honor System is administered by students through the Executive Committee of the Student Body ( and has been since 1905 ) . Any student found guilty of an Honor Violation by his or her peers is subject to a single sanction : expulsion . The Honor System is defined solely by students , and there is an appeal process . Appeals are heard by juries composed of students drawn randomly by the University Registrar . A formal assessment of the Honor System ' s " White Book , " occasionally including referenda , is held every three years to review the tenets of the Honor System . Overwhelmingly , students continue to support the Honor System and its single sanction , and they and alumni point to the Honor System as one of the distinctive marks they carry with them from their W & L experience . Washington and Lee ' s Honor System is distinct from others such as those found at the neighboring Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia because it is not codified . That is to say , unlike its Virginia neighbors , Washington and Lee ' s does not have a list of rules that define punishable behavior — beyond the traditional guide of the offenses lying , cheating or stealing . Exams at W & L are ordinarily unproctored and self - scheduled . It is not unusual for professors to assign take - home , closed - book finals with an explicit trust in their students not to cheat . The Honor System is strongly enforced . In most years , only a few students withdraw in the face of an honor charge or after investigations and closed hearings conducted by the Executive Committee of the Student Body , the University ' s elected student government ( with the accused counseled by Honor Advocates , often law students ) . In recent years , four or five students have left each year . Students found guilty in a closed hearing may appeal the verdict to an open hearing before the entire student body , although this option is rarely exercised . If found guilty at an open trial , the student is dismissed from the university permanently . Separately from the student - run honor system , the Student - Faculty Hearing Board hears allegations of student misconduct . Academics and reputation . Today the university has about 2 , 000 undergraduate students and 400 in the School of Law . Both the undergraduate and law schools are near the top of the " U . S . News and World Report " rankings for national liberal arts colleges and law schools , respectively . In the 2013 guide , the undergraduate college is ranked number 14 amongst national liberal arts colleges and the law school is ranked number 26 nationally amongst all law schools . The admissions rate for the class of 2016 was 18 percent . The average combined score on the math and verbal sections of the SAT is 1 , 415 ( of a possible 1 , 600 ) . The average score on the ACT is 31 . Washington and Lee is divided into three schools : ( 1 ) The College , where all undergraduates begin their studies , encompassing the liberal arts , humanities and hard sciences , with notable interest among students in pre - health and pre - law studies ; ( 2 ) the Williams School of Commerce , Economics , and Politics , which offers majors in accounting , business administration , economics , politics , and public accounting ; and ( 3 ) the School of Law , which offers Juris Doctor and Master of Laws degrees . More than 1 , 100 undergraduate courses are offered . There are no graduate or teaching assistants ; every course is taught by a faculty member . The university libraries contain has more than 700 , 000 volumes ( and a vast electronic network ) . The law library has an additional 400 , 000 volumes as well as extensive electronic resources . Washington and Lee offers 42 undergraduate majors ( including interdisciplinary majors in neuroscience , medieval and Renaissance studies , and Russian area studies ) and 22 minors , including interdisciplinary programs in African - American studies , East Asian studies , environmental studies , Latin American and Caribbean studies , poverty and human capability studies ( Shepherd Program ) , and women ' s and gender studies . Though the university has refused since 2003 to submit data to " Princeton Review " , the 2006 edition of " The Best 357 Colleges " ranked W & L highly in its for " Best Overall Academic Experience , " " Professors Get High Marks , " and " Professor Accessibility " . In the 2007 edition , Washington and Lee was ranked fourth in " Professors Get High Marks " and sixth in " Professor Accessibility " . Combining academics with an active social culture , Washington and Lee ranked 14th in " Best Overall Academic Experience for Undergraduates " . Washington and Lee University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools . Student life . Athletics . The school ' s teams are known as " The Generals " and compete in NCAA Division III in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and the Centennial Conference for wrestling . Washington and Lee has 11 men ' s teams ( baseball , basketball , cross country , football , golf , lacrosse , soccer , swimming , tennis , track & field , and wrestling ) and 10 women ' s teams ( basketball , cross country , field hockey , lacrosse , riding , soccer , swimming , tennis , track & field , and volleyball ) . Washington and Lee will be adding a women ' s golf team in 2012 . Washington and Lee holds two NCAA National Championship titles . In 1988 , the men ' s tennis team won the NCAA Division III National Championship title . In 2007 , the women ' s tennis team claimed the NCAA Division III National Championship title . In 2006 , 2010 , and 2012 , The Generals football team won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship . In 2009 , the Generals baseball team won the ODAC championship . Student activities . Traditions . Every four years , the school sponsors the Washington and Lee Mock Convention for whichever political party ( Democratic or Republican ) does not hold the Presidency . The Convention has received gavel - to - gavel coverage on C - SPAN and attention from many other national media outlets . The convention has correctly picked the out - of - power nominee for 18 of the past 23 national elections . It has been wrong twice since 1948 , including its incorrect choice of Hillary Clinton in 2008 . In 1984 , the failure of the scoreboard significantly slowed the vote tally process and almost led to a wrong selection . The Washington Post declared Washington and Lee ' s Mock Convention " one of the nation ’ s oldest and most prestigious mock conventions . " The university hosts the Fancy Dress Ball , a 105 - year old formal black - tie event . Each year , the Fancy Dress Ball has a theme and has a rumored budget of over $ 80 , 000 . W & L also follows the " speaking tradition " which traces its history to Robert E . Lee . Under this tradition , students are suggested to greet one another upon passing on campus . This tradition is not enforced . Washington and Lee University has several mysterious societies including the Cadaver Society , the Sigma Society , and the Mongolian Minks . Fraternities and sororities . Greek letter organizations play a major role in Washington and Lee ' s social scene . The following is a list of active , recognized fraternities and sororities . Fraternities . The Kappa Alpha Order , one of the Lexington Triad , was founded at W & L . Alpha Tau Omega and Sigma Nu , the other two members of the Triad , were founded at neighboring VMI and instituted early chapters at W & L . Dormant fraternity chapters at Washington and Lee also include Alpha Chi Rho , Alpha Tau Omega , Chi Phi , Delta Sigma Phi , Delta Tau Delta , Delta Upsilon , Theta Delta Chi . Phi Kappa Sigma , Psi Upsilon , Phi Epsilon Pi and Zeta Beta Tau . Media and culture . The eminent photographer Sally Mann got her start at Washington and Lee , photographing the construction of the law school while a university employee . The photos eventually became the basis of a one - woman exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington , D . C . Secretariat , who holds the record for the fastest time in the Kentucky Derby and winner of the Triple Crown in 1973 , wore royal blue and white ( as vividly shown in the 2010 Disney movie ) because his owner , Christopher Chenery , was a graduate and trustee of Washington and Lee . A Washington and Lee art history professor , Pamela Hemenway Simpson , in 1999 wrote the only scholarly book on linoleum , giving it the title " Cheap , Quick and Easy " . The book also examines other home - design materials once used by the lower classes to emulate their betters . More recently , she has become an expert , perhaps the leading academic expert , on butter sculpture . Washington and Lee is home to a collection of 18th - and 19th - century Chinese and European porcelain , the gift of Euchlin Dalcho Reeves , a 1927 graduate of the law school , and his wife , Louise Herreshoff . In 1967 , Mr . Reeves contacted Washington and Lee about making " a small gift , " which turned out to be a collection of porcelain so vast that it filled two entire houses which he and his wife owned in Providence , Rhode Island . A number of dirt - covered picture frames , found in the two houses , were put on the van along with the porcelain . Soon it was discovered that the frames actually contained Impressionist - like paintings created by Louise as a young woman in the early days of the century . Mrs . Reeves had , it turned out , been a painter of stupendous talent , certified when in 1976 the Corcoran Gallery in Washington mounted a posthumous one - woman exhibition of her works . Their story is helped by the fact that he ( " Boy " ) was almost 30 years younger than she ( " Dol " ) . The world ' s first recorded streaker — George William Crump — was a student at Washington College , in 1804 . He later became a U . S . Congressman . Music . Before it morphed into a swing , Dixieland and bluegrass standard , " The Washington and Lee Swing " was one of the most well known — and widely borrowed — football marches ever written , according to Robert Lissauer ' s " Encyclopedia of Popular Music in America . " Schools and colleges from Tulane to Slippery Rock copied it ( sometimes with attribution ) . It was written in 1910 by Mark W . Sheafe , ' 06 , Clarence A . ( Tod ) Robbins , ' 11 , and Thornton W . Allen , ' 13 . It has been recorded by virtually every important jazz and swing musician , including Glenn Miller ( with Tex Beneke on vocals ) , Louis Armstrong , Kay Kyser , Hal Kemp and the Dukes of Dixieland . " The Swing " was a trademark of the New Orleans showman Pete Fountain . The trumpeter Red Nichols played it ( and Danny Kaye pretended to play it ) in the 1959 movie " The Five Pennies . " ( Here is an audio excerpt from a 1944 recording by Jan Garber , a prominent dance - band leader of the era . Here is an exuberant instrumental version by a group called the Dixie Boys , which YouTube dates to 2006 . ) The " Swing " was parodied in " The Dummy Song " by Ray Brown and Lew Henderson . " Dummy " was recorded by NRBQ , Louis Armstrong , Louis Prima and Glenn Miller ' s vocal jazz group , the Modernaires , among many others , and was used in the movie " You ' ve Got Mail . " Alumni of note . " See List of Washington and Lee University people . " Washington and Lee University has served as the alma mater of three United States Supreme Court Justices , a Nobel Prize laureate , winners of the Pulitzer Prize , as well as many other government officials , judges , business leaders , entertainers , and athletes . Several well - known alumni include Lewis F . Powell , Jr . , John Warner , John W . Davis , Tom Wolfe , Cy Twombly , and Merriweather Lewis . In literature . A fictionalized representation of the University appears in L ' Étudiant étranger by Philippe Labro ( 1986 , Editions Gallimard ) , translated into English two years later and published as " The Foreign Student " ( Ballantine Books ) . In 1994 it was made into a movie , starring Robin Givens and Marco Hofschneider , but it grossed only $ 113 , 000 at the box office . Other novels about the university include " Geese in the Forum " ( Knopf , 1940 ) by Lawrence Edward Watkin , a professor of English who went on to become a screenwriter for Disney ( the college faculty were the titular geese ) ; " The Hero " ( Julian Messner , 1949 ) , by Millard Lampell , filmed as " Saturday ' s Hero , " starring Donna Reed and John Derek ( Columbia Studios , 1951 ) , about a football player who struggles to balance athletics , academics and a social life ; and " A Sound of Voices Dying " by Glenn Scott ( E . P . Dutton , 1954 ) , released in a paperback edition in 1955 under the new title " Farewell My Young Lover " ( replete with a lurid illustration on the cover ) .