Passing Traditions Forward: A Holiday Message
December 23, 2025
(Christmas in the Robert E. Lee Parlor at Fancy Hill. December 2025)
The week ahead is a time of cheer and celebration, where we rejoice at the thought of undergoing another round of holiday habits, and sharing these traditions with our younger relatives.
I, for one, am especially excited to be hosting Christmas this year for the first time, welcoming my newly wed brother and his family to join our annual festivities: from watching National Lampoons to decorating the tree and preparing a savory Christmas feast. Hosting a large family and cooking enough to feed them is certainly an endeavor, but I am comforted by the fact that my efforts have helped secure one more year of holiday tradition. Our wise readers will understand how easily these traditions can be lost, and why it is so important we pass them on to the next generation.
I feel much the same way about my work with The Generals Redoubt. For many classmates and young alumni, it may seem strange for someone so young to care so deeply about preserving Washington and Lee’s history and traditions. After all, I’ve only known about W&L for 6 years, and I could quote Clark Griswold better than I could the White Book.
But the duration of my experience doesn’t determine the importance of a tradition: if that were the case, traditions would be as short lived as the individual observing them. We alumni all play a small role in the grand scheme of the university, one of four hundred students who graduate each year. But together, our collective memory and enthusiasm for campus traditions stretches across generations, nationalities, and creeds. It would be selfish and tragic to not play our part in sustaining Washington and Lee’s traditions — such as the Honor System, Speaking Tradition, and a Liberals Arts education — for those who succeed us. After all, we value traditions because of the positive sentiments and character they mold, qualities we hope will always define our posterity.
In recent years, however, a number of challenges to campus traditions have emerged. These include renewed debates over the Single Sanction, growing anxiety surrounding academic integrity and artificial intelligence, the cancelling of Founders Day, and—perhaps most concerning—a broader disengagement from the university’s historical identity.
Some of these challenges may be resolved on their own. And you may even believe that the burden of responsibility — i.e., to maintain these traditions — should fall to people more involved with campus life: students, administrators, and even Lexington-based alumni.
Preserving these traditions is the work I have chosen to devote myself to, and it is the mission that animates The Generals Redoubt and our historic headquarters at Fancy Hill. Over the last few months we have released a trove of podcasts, opinions, and historical letters which reinforce the value of the Honor System and the Single Sanction.
If you haven’t engaged with this material, I really implore you to take some time over the next few days to listen to or read them. You don’t have to fully support The Redoubt and our broad beliefs to appreciate what we are doing to promote campus honor. Likewise, we really hope that our sincerity resonates through the real conversations we have conducted with current students and impassioned alumni. Traditions are easily lost, and we believe that sustained dialogue about Washington and Lee’s greatest tradition can help preserve it — if nothing else, for at least one more year.
If this work resonates with you, I ask that you please consider supporting our Seventh Annual Fund, “On My Honor,” before the end of December. Your gift will be doubled by a handful of generous alumni who have pledged their full support behind the Honor System and its formative impact on their lives and careers.
Before closing, I have one final plea this holiday season. Whether or not you support TGR and contribute to the university annually, do not fall into the trap of thinking that someone else will champion Washington and Lee’s traditions to the next generation. Obviously, we are doing our best to accomplish this. But just as Christmas dinner requires everyone to help out, Washington and Lee needs all her sons and daughters to celebrate and convey her traditions. If you believe strongly in the Single Sanction, tell your son or grandson about it; visit campus and impart your experiences onto a group of freshmen you pass; write us a letter about how the Speaking Tradition welcomed you to Lexington. W&L offers a rich tapestry of traditions, and this is the best time of year to act on their importance.
From The Generals Redoubt to you, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May God Bless you and your family with many cherished memories, new and old.
Sincerely,
Kamron M. Spivey, ‘24
Executive Director
The Generals Redoubt