From the Outside Looking in
How W&L students are perceived by Lex community
Nazo Burgy
Issue date: 10/26/05 Section: News
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"We all have stereotypes we carry around with us," Professor of Economics Linda Hooks said. "I think the stereotype of the W&L student as rich or Southern, while perhaps not inaccurate, is incomplete, because it misses the intelligence and the civility of most of the students."
In a random survey conducted by The Trident, the most popular descriptions of W&L students by faculty and staff were smart, polite and friendly. The faculty and staff almost always had positive descriptions of students, while a few mentioned negative characteristics such as "self-absorbed," "two-faced," and "narrow minded."
Faculty
Many of the faculty responses to the survey were positive and said that they were impressed with the student body for the most part.
Associate professor of history David Peterson said that teaching top-quality students "is absolutely the best part of being on the faculty at Washington and Lee."
"They're smart, have good verbal and writing skills, work amazingly hard, and are very curious and teachable. Moreover, they're very friendly, well-mannered, and eminently likeable as people," he said.
Even though it is German professor Daniel Kramer's first year at W&L, he has already picked up on many of the same sentiments held by other veteran professors.
"They're polite, hard-working students, who want good grades, good jobs, and a good time--both in and out of the classroom," Kramer said.
Staff
When security officer Larry Stuart began working for W&L 20 years ago he had much of the same impressions of students as the rest of the community: rich, spoiled, and heavy drinkers. As he got to know the University and the students on a more personal level, Stuart quickly learned that there is more to W&L students than most people realize.
"I think they are very giving people, I believe that they care about the community, they care about what goes on in the community," he said.
Stuart said the negative perceptions that the community holds come from the "bad times."
"When you're at Kroger with a shopping cart full of beer on a Saturday evening, they're going to see that," Stuart said. "They don't see you guys when you're doing Big Brother Big Sister, mentoring, or coaching RARO."