“Our University” Is Subject of President’s Smith’s Address (1924)

[The following was an article printed in the 1924 Ring-tum Phi about President Smith’s speech, focusing on the significance of strong character and the honor system, to the student body. For more info, visit W&L Special Collections.]

(Washington and Lee Colonnade | SOURCE: Alex Kagan)

At the University Assembly held in the gymnasium on Thursday, February 21, President Henry Louis Smith spoke to the Student Body on the present standing of the University and how it could be made the greatest institution of its kind in the South.

“The real success and leadership of an institution,” he declared, “cannot be measured by the size of its Student Body, and its wealth or the loyalty of its alumni, its athletic victories, or by the quality of its social functions.” He stated, “that the building of character is the greatest essential to a man’s education and that this cannot be accomplished by the faculty alone, but that it requires the undivided support of each and every student.”

Cordiality of the Student Body creates good feeling on the campus and enables the students to work as a unit for the uplift of the University. The honor system, which has worked so successfully during the past years and which has been used as a model by other school, is one of the outstanding factors of character building.

He went on to say that the liabilities, which the Student Body and the administration have to overcome, are the geographical seclusion, isolation in support and loyalty, fewness of alumni, and most important of all, the comparatively low resources of the institution.

Our geographical seclusion lessens our publicity as we are out of touch with the rest of the country. As we have no support from state or denomination, we must depend entirely upon our widely scattered alumni. The limited size of our Student Body has prevented us from having accumulated a large number of alumni to whom we can look for support.

As to the lowness of resources, Dr. Smith gave statistics to show how much Washington and Lee’s endowment and income per student tuition and the consequences placed on the executives.

Dr. Smith stated that no institution in America could compare with Washington and Lee as to the dignity and ennobling associations which surround it. He pointed out that our University does not patronize any particular denomination and is unhampered by any state laws which govern state institutions. He praised the traditions of honor and universal cordiality as a priceless asset.

In conclusion, he urged, “We must have something that others cannot get. Our honor system has achieved the best publicity. Let’s make Washington and Lee the best. If you will do your share on the inside, I’ll work myself to death on the outside. I have never found a more reasonable, harmonious, and cooperative Student Body than this.”