Lee Chapel - Andrew Taylor

I thought the trip to Lee Chapel was fascinating. Most notably because the tour guide offered an interesting opinion on some of the controversy that has surrounded the Chapel and the museum below. For instance, the recent removal of the the Confederate flags surrounding Lee's monument. The reading assignment from the night before had already educated me on the facts of the event, but speaking to someone who was directly involved in the removal of the flags was extremely valuable. For example, she pointed out to us how they had covered up the holes in the wall which the flags used to be mounted in. But what was most interesting about this was that she said "I usually don't tell people this". That short sentence carries a lot of interesting inflections. I think it reflects how Lee Chapel as well as the University as a whole want to avoid bringing up the controversy as much as possible. But why? It seems to me that the University did the right thing by removing the flags. President Ruscio plenty of legitimate reasons to not remove the flags (such as the lobbying of the local daughters of the Confederacy), and yet he still did. This to me shows the President Ruscio and the University standing on "the right side of history", and yet the tour guide made it seem like the whole event is something to be embarrassed of.

Lee Chapel - MP Welch

What struck me the most about Lee Chapel was how influential Robert E. Lee really was to our school. In the past I have always been skeptical about how much he is revered for his Southern roots and how much was truly derivative of his work with the school. The information Mrs. Wilkins shared and the Museum to him below highlighted his importance in establishing what W&L is today.

As a campus tour guide, I was embarrassed that I didn’t know much of these contributions prior to our discussion, but I will make sure to elucidate the figure of Lee as our school’s President better on future tours. Clearly he is know for instilling the Honor System and our tendency to civility, but it was fascinating to hear how he embodied these characteristics himself when he treated each of the students both as adults and as his children. As well, I was impressed with how his development of the majors and minors system improved the school’s employment after graduation rate and then sparked schools like Harvard to adopt it. Lastly, the frequency of the use of the Chapel, even on a daily basis, surprised me. However, since we learned it was never consecrated, it makes more sense that various secular programs are held there.

The decision-making process of the flags being removed still intrigues me. Our guide suggested the decision was made by the school’s former President, Ruscio. However, I wonder more about who was involved. To whom was the initial letter with the three demands addressed? Was the Board influential in the decision? How much so? These questions fascinate me de to the concern for the art of curation and who is really responsible for the messages conveyed at Lee Chapel and the other curated spaces on campus.

Lee Chapel- Emily Roche

Upon entering the Lee Chapel museum, one will find a very large, rather imposing Robert E. Lee, front in center, right in the eyes view.  While I did not think much of his presence during my many visits to the Chapel during orientation week, revisiting has caused me to change my view on the general and what his role in the Chapel is.
After learning of Lee's family being buried underneath the Chapel, I gained a sort of respect for the man, and an even greater respect for the building.  The Chapel, in many ways, is holy because of Lee, as well as the history that goes along with him that commonly goes unnoticed.  Aside from my newfound respect for the Chapel and the richness of its history, I was surprised at the dismissal, or at least the beating around the bush of some questions regarding the nation's confederate past.  In particular, I found it very interesting that any trace of previous confederate flags and their placement had been completely removed.  While I understand the controversy of these flags within the community and the nation as a whole, I feel they are an essential part of history, and to try and cover them up is like trying to erase the past (which has not been successful in previous attempts).  The richness of Lee and Washington's history is, in my opinion, very interesting and very informative for the United States and what we do not want to be repeated.  I do not feel this should be glazed over or covered up.  Instead, I feel it should be emphasized more.  People can't argue with the past, because it is there and it is unchanging.  The public's constant attempt to change what cannot be changed has, in my opinion, caused such controversy to arise.

Lee Chapel Reflection: Liz Janisse

I am amazed at how many details of the Lee Chapel I have overlooked in our visits there for class meetings and honor sessions.

Today’s visit placed a special emphasis on the chapel’s history and transition from a ‘shrine to the South’ to the epicenter of W&L’s campus, where students—the primary audience—commune in a special way with each other as well as Lee’s rich legacy of honor and service.

I especially enjoyed learning about how the placards on the wall (which I failed to notice in previous visits) commemorate the lives and deaths of W&L students and alumnae. This substantiates the role of Lee Chapel as a sacred space for the community and an ever-changing memorial that reflects the Washington and Lee narrative.

I learned today that the statue of Lee does not portray the general in death, as I have always presumed. Instead, this is a representation of Lee peacefully asleep, likely among his fellow soldiers. This insight changes my perception of the statue from a clear depiction of death to a more benevolent portrayal of Lee at rest and content.

It was interesting to hear Lucy discuss the controversy surrounding the recent removal of Confederate battle flags from the chapel. Her responses call attention to the thin line that the chapel staff must walk, as they seek to balance the voice of progress from the University with the call for memorialization of the Confederacy that motivates many outside visitors. Given my interest in public relations (specifically crisis communications), I am excited to learn more about the staff’s response to the backlash they faced from the flag debate.

Lee Chapel - Megan Philips

I had visited Lee Chapel and the museum once before when I first came to Washington and Lee for my campus tour, but I left our class visit with a much better understanding of how the monument has changed over time as well as the differences in perception from the public and the university.

I found the history of the chapel’s use most interesting about the memorial site. There seems to be a recurring conflict surrounding the discussion as to whether the Lee Chapel in its shrine to Lee in its entirety or if has other purposes as well. As we learned, Lee built the chapel to serve as a student hub while he was president. The library, bible study room, and his office were all housed below the auditorium where the students would gather every morning, making the site a high-traffic spot on campus. After Lee’s burial in what was the library at the time, the chapel began to take on a memorial form. This explains why the entrance into the chapel does not give emphasized, direct eyesight to the statue past the stage that was added years after the building’s construction.

It was interesting to learn about how people perceive the space differently. After the United Daughters of the Confederacy allowed for the expansion of the chapel to provide room for the memorial statue and the burial of Lee’s family in the tombs underneath, the chapel took on the name “Shrine of the South.” With this new purpose added to the chapel, the school property began to take on a more public role. As Ms. Wilkins repeatedly emphasized, some feel that the main purpose of memory in the chapel should be about Lee’s educational achievements and that the space should still have the primary purpose of serving the university. However, I had a difficult time focusing on that side of Lee when his representations in the portrait and his recumbent statue portray him in his Confederate uniform. I feel like these portrayals would continue to shift visitors’ focus on the military history surrounding Lee.

I felt that Ms. Wilkin’s recollection of some of the complaints she received after the replicas of the Confederate flags were removed from the memorial space clearly showed the misconceptions of the purpose of the chapel. She recalled that some accused the decision to remove the controversial symbols as a form of desecration of Lee’s grave. Lee’s grave, however, lies in a different area below the statue, so therefore these actions were not desecration, but some continued to claim that the entire building is Lee’s gravesite. Meanwhile, the president’s policy requests that the Lee memorial be gated off, darkened, and blocked by flags during Washington and Lee ceremonies that take place inside the chapel. From the university’s perspective, the building still serves students in many ways besides allowing the public to commemorate Lee. Without understanding all of these views of the chapel, we can’t fully appreciate and form perceptions of our own.

Lee Chapel-Murray Manley

I am honestly so ashamed that I haven't visited Lee Chapel and the museum during my time here at Washington and Lee University. I know that one of the major things I will take away from this class is an appreciation for the history that surrounds our school and community, and a better understanding of the complex layering of perspectives, stories, and controversies that come with it. When visiting Lee Chapel today, I was surprised to see several other visitors in the atrium area with the Recumbent Lee, and many many other visitors in the downstairs museum. Lucy Wilkins mentioned that the RE Lee Chapel and Museum get as many as 40,000 visitors a year, which is incredible for a destination like Lexington that is considered relatively remote and out of the way. Seeing the Recumbent Lee up close for the first time, I was surprised by the simplicity of the room in which the statue is held, although the simplicity does contribute to the focus on the statue itself. I also am still a little shocked that the Lee Memorial Association settled on a recumbent statue as opposed to a more formidable, upright statue. After all, many visitors fail to realize that the statue is not, in fact, a fancy sarcophagus, but rather an image of Lee sleeping on the battlefield.  Finally, I was surprised that the RE Lee staff and all involved in the curation and upkeep of the chapel chose to completely hide all remnants of the old sconces that once held the flags in the room with the statue. One would think that leaving the sconces would be a sort of apology and acknowledgement of wrong-doing in the past. However, the sconces and the holes where they once were are completely erased, leaving little to no trace that there ever were any decorations on the walls.

In the museum below, I loved getting to see more of Lee's personal belongings. Before the tour today, I had no idea that Lee was the instigator of the major/minor system, the president that first allowed dances, or the president who increased the student body by tenfold during his time here. I wish the school focused more on his role as an educator here, possibly during O-week. I realize that Lee's name to this day is shrouded in controversy, but as long as some of that is addressed in the conversations, his role here at W&L should be more widely publicized. I think all students, regardless of their opinion of Lee, should be more educated about the history of Lexington and the namesakes of the school.

Lee Chapel- Maggie Sands

Having been to Lee Chapel many times in my three years at W&L, it wasn't until today that I realized how little I notice each time I enter the chapel. Robert E. Lee's statue in the center demands your attention as soon as you walk in the door, but I had never noticed the various plaques on the wall commemorating different people and events.

There were two stories that really stuck with me and made me think. The first was that of Lee riding Traveller through the country and coming upon a woman who was upset that a certain tree was dying because it had some Confederate significance to it from the Civil War. Lee's response to this woman was to cut it down and to move forward. The reason I found this to be interesting was because Lee is memorialized in his Confederate uniform, asleep on the battlefield. If he truly wanted to put that part of his life behind him, it makes you wonder why he is depicted in that point in his life.

The other story that struck me was that the entirety of Lee Chapel used to be considered the "shrine of the South," and that in recent history there has been a movement to define Lee Chapel as a place created by Lee but intended for the student body of Washington and Lee. This was intriguing to me due to our discussion of how the present affects memorialization of the past. Depending on the time period, a single event, person, or thing can be remembered differently. It was interesting to hear how this narrative has changed over time.

In the museum, I learned a lot about Lee's work as president of the university that I had not previously known before. I think it is interesting that his life as a general is displayed above ground in the main area of the chapel, while his life as W&L's president is kept underground and is much less well known.