Washington & Lee University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1749 in Lexington. It is the ninth oldest college in America. The school was originally named Augusta Academy and later renamed Liberty Hall Academy, the struggling school was given a large gift of stock in 1796 by George Washington and was renamed after him. In 1865, shortly after his April 9 surrender to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union Armies, former Confederate States Army General-in-Chief Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) served as president of the college for five years until his death in 1870, when the college was thereafter renamed the “Washington and Lee University”. In 2014, a large Confederate battle flag and a number of related state flags were removed from Lee Chapel, after a group of black students protested that the school was unwelcoming to minorities. Some students, faculty, and alumni have advocated that the university disassociate itself from Lee, including advocating a change of name.
