James A. Blanchard III
[address redacted]
Charlottesville, Va. 22902
October 27, 1983

John D. Wilson, President
Washington & Lee University
Lexington, Virginia 24450

Dear Mr. Wilson:

As an alumnus, I must regret your decision, taken after only a
few months in office, to revive the distracting and fatiguing
coeducation controversy at Washington & Lee.

Let me note that I have no objection in principle to coeducation.
I attended a coeducational undergraduate school. I would be
gravely concerned by any campaign, particularly one instigated
by a new school official, to transfrom that school by changing
its policy.

I share your concern for W&L's ability to attract a sufficient
enrollment of qualified students. But if W&L is to survive and
flourish, it will not be by the precipitous and undignified imi-
tation of virtually every other college and university. It will
do so by maintaining and emphasizing its historic character.
That distinctive identity accounts for the extraordinary loyalty
of its alumni and has seen it through more serious problems than
those you envision.

Coeducation necessarily entails radical transformation of the
school and destruction of its ambience and traditions. It would
not reflect either the will or the best interests of the Univer-
sity and its community.

I assume that you will make every effort to seek the advice and
consent of the University community, in which I include in par-
ticular the alumni, in the days ahead.

My fondest wish for Washington & Lee is that it will have the
imaginative leadership capable of addressing serious issues and
able to see it through any difficulties with its integrity intact.

Very truly yours,

[James A Blanchard III]

James A. Blanchard III


cc: James M. Ballengee

[pb]

WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY
LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT


October 31, 1983



Mr. James A. Blanchard III
[address redacted]
Charlottesville, VA 22902

Dear Mr. Blanchard:

I have your note and thank you for sharing your opinion with me.

I do wish to alter your view, if I can, of one point. You state that
you regret "my decision to revive the controversy" etc. etc. I want
only to say that the coeducation question at Washington and Lee was
waiting my arrival here. I did not bring it with me. In fact, I accepted
the residency of a coeducational University with an all-male undergraduate
program in good faith. I lived and studied two years in an all-male
college and enjoyed myself immensely. I assumed the issue was, at
least, moot here.

I discovered quickly that I was wrong. It was the first question
asked me at my first press conference fourteen months ago. It was the
first question asked me by every group of seniors who entered my home
last spring. And it was a matter virtually every member of the Faculty,
including the 30 plus who graduated from Washington and Lee, thought
fit to comment on when I met with them individually.

Bob Huntley did warn me, as he warned the Board, that this issue
continues to be of central interest and concern here. It arose, you will
recall, in the first year of his presidency and [illegible] five years
later. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, nor should you be, that it rose
during the first year of my tenure here.

What you could help me with is a concrete explication of why you
feel as you do. What part of the undergraduate experience, in your
opinion, would fail to survive the admission of women? Keep in mind
that there are women students in our Law School and in our classrooms
by exchange (not many, but some), and there are large numbers of
women here for social reasons almost any day or evening. But I realize
W & L is not Amherst or Davidson and I want to know as clearly as I
can what part of the particular experience we provide would be put
at jeopardy if women were permitted to share in it. ls it the ambiance
provided by the fraternity system? Is it the camaraderie of men in and
along the colonnade or the relationships our men form with their teachers?

I should be ever so grateful if you would invest still more of your
time to tell me how you think about these matters.

Most sincerely,


John D. Wilson
President