Parents Weekend and More at Washington and Lee
Your friends at The Generals Redoubt have been busy this fall, supporting student activities nearly every week. From open houses at Fancy Hill and campus symposiums to the September 11 memorial and flag planting, TGR is creating opportunities for students to engage with ideas, history, and leaders well beyond the classroom.
Just last week, we co-sponsored, alongside The Spectator and the W&L Law Federalist Society, a luncheon with former Virginia Governor George Allen and former Attorney General Jason Miyares. Two days later, we welcomed Professor Lynn Uzzell, a former Washington and Lee professor of legendary reputation, back to campus to discuss her new book on Thomas Jefferson, John Locke, and the Declaration of Independence.
Though different in format and subject, these programs reflect a common goal: empowering students to bring the voices they want to hear to campus, in the settings that best engage them.
For the students TGR sent to the National Conservative Student Conference this summer — and the three more we are sending to the Texas Youth Summit this weekend — that means gathering with hundreds of college students from across the country to hear from leading intellectuals, public officials, and media personalities. This summer's conference featured former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Ben Shapiro, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Isabel Brown, Andrew Klavan, and others. Just as importantly, our students encountering not only ideas they shared, but disagreements within the conservative movement itself.
The Allen and Miyares luncheon was intentionally more intimate. Rather than simply recount their own distinguished careers, the two statesmen asked the undergraduate and law students present what they hoped to accomplish through their involvement in politics and the law.
A university education should expose students to a genuine diversity of ideas, experiences, and perspectives. Yet conservative perspectives remain underrepresented at Washington and Lee, making it all the more important that students have opportunities to encounter them seriously and thoughtfully. That does not mean simply reinforcing what students already believe. Conservatism encompasses a broad and often competing range of ideas about government, economics, culture, foreign policy, and the American experiment. We want students to encounter that complexity, refine their own beliefs, and test their assumptions against those of others. As Washington and Lee's crest reminds us: Omnia autem probate — test all things.
At the same time, The Redoubt remains firmly grounded in our central mission: preserving Washington and Lee's history and celebrating the principles and legacies of its Founders. We read, write, teach, and talk about our Founders — on campus and increasingly to audiences beyond Lexington — as we work to become a premier voice for the serious study of George Washington, Robert E. Lee, and the traditions they represent.
That is why Professor Uzzell's lecture was such an important campus event, and why we were especially grateful for the co-sponsorship of the Washington and Lee Department of Politics. Drawing from her new book, Locke-ing and Un-Locke-ing the Declaration of Independence, Professor Uzzell took seriously the Declaration as a statement of political philosophy. Her careful examination of its famous second paragraph places its claims within the intellectual world that produced them, precisely the kind of serious engagement with America's founding ideas that we hope to encourage at Washington and Lee.
We invite you to view photographs from both Professor Uzzell's lecture and our luncheon with Governor Allen and Attorney General Miyares, and to watch Professor Uzzell's lecture in full, recorded Friday on Washington and Lee's campus.
We also hope you will consider supporting The Generals Redoubt today. Your generosity allows us to work alongside student leaders to sponsor the programs and conversations they want to bring to campus, while ensuring that another generation of Generals encounters the history, principles, and traditions that have shaped our beloved alma mater.
In celebration of America's 250th anniversary, while supplies last, donors who make a gift of $250 or more will receive a signed copy of Professor Uzzell's new book, Locke-ing and Un-Locke-ing the Declaration of Independence.
Thank you, and Go Generals!
Kamron M. Spivey, ‘24
Executive Director
The Generals Redoubt