辛普森公馆落成致辞

2019年5月3日

Watch a video of the Simpson House Dedication ceremony, 包括受托人布莱尔·希克森·戴维斯1994年的讲话, Sidney Gause Childress艺术教授George Bent, 学院院长莉娜·希尔, 彼得•辛普森, 和W&威廉·C. 达德利.

几周前, 在这样的场合, 就在柱廊那边, 我们庆祝了查维斯大厅的落成. On that occasion, I noted that our buildings tell stories about who we have been and who we are. We have buildings that bear the names of presidents, deans and donors. 我们有一栋大楼是以一位前财务主管的名字命名的. Downtown we have buildings called the Court House and the Old Jail because that is what they once were.

I also emphasized that the Board of Trustees renames university buildings only after serious consideration and infrequently. 但它确实发生了. 你身后是亨特利大厅. Some of you studied in that building when it was McCormick Library. 1979年新图书馆开放时, 麦考密克学院被称为“c学院”, 直到以亨特利总统的名字重新命名. 麦考密克, a significant benefactor and trustee for two decades after the Civil War, 建筑上再也没有他的名字了, 但他对W的贡献&L continue to be memorialized by the statue of him on front campus.

Naming this building for Pamela Simpson gives well-deserved recognition to the pioneering roles she played at Washington and Lee. Doing so does not diminish the other individuals with whom the house has been associated.

It was built in 1841 to be the home of President Henry Ruffner. 他的继任者是乔治·朱金, whose daughter Elinor married Thomas "Stonewall" 杰克逊, 他是弗吉尼亚理工学院臭名昭著的不受欢迎的物理学教授. 新婚夫妇住在房子的侧翼, where Elinor died in childbirth and 杰克逊 lived for four years. 内战结束后，罗伯特. 李和他的家人从1865年到1869年住在这里, when construction of the house next door was complete. This building thus came to be known as Lee-杰克逊 House.

Stories of Lee and 杰克逊 will always be prominent on this campus and in this town. Lee's contributions to Washington College are memorialized by the name of the university, 他建造的小教堂, 还有他死的房子. 杰克逊, who was connected to Washington College only indirectly, 通过他的婚姻, 在VMI纪念, 他在那里教书, 在列克星敦市, 他被埋葬的地方.

辛普森之家承认一个真正的W&L pioneer whose contributions to the university in the late-20th and early-21st centuries are difficult to overstate.

When Professor Simpson arrived at Washington and Lee, she was something of a curiosity. It was not only that she was the first female tenure-track faculty member, though she was. It was that some of her views were rather unconventional for a W&L教授. In 1981, 当时她被任命为学院副院长, 环转Phi写了一篇简介，标题是, “帕梅拉·辛普森:反战抗议W&L." The story catalogued her perspectives on everything from Vietnam to 性 and drugs, 但不是摇滚. She conceded that she had been considered "a freak in college and what the media considered a hippie." A freak, she explained, was anyone who was a little bit different in 1968.

In the same Phi interview, Professor Simpson predicted W&再过10年我就能上男女同校了, ，至少是出于经济原因, but hopefully because we realize it's in our best interests...教室里的女性会成为W&一个更有人情味、更有趣的地方."

当她的预言成真时, 比她预期的要快, Professor Simpson was called upon to help guide the university through unchartered and choppy waters. President John Wilson appointed her in 1984 to chair the Coeducation Steering Committee, which spent the next two years preparing an institution that had been all-male since 1749 to welcome undergraduate women to its ranks. President Wilson charged Professor Simpson and the committee with ensuring "the happy and successful induction of young women into our collegiate life by anticipating new opportunities we should seize upon and potential problems we should avoid if we can."

在辛普森教授的得力领导下, the committee addressed everything from 招生 policies to residential accommodations, from health services to the development of women's sports, 从食堂运营到校园安全. Despite the group's painstaking efforts, they weren't perfect. Failing to anticipate how much more often the women would use the Graham-Lees washing machines than had the men, 在早期，洗衣房存在瓶颈.

When you consider everything that was involved in implementing the Trustees' landmark decision, it is remarkable how quickly co-education succeeded at W&L. But when asked by the Phi about her role in the transition, 辛普森教授简单地说, 以特有的谦虚, “我只是众多声音中的一个." Those familiar with Professor Simpson know that it was a strong and influential voice.

We owe Professor Simpson an enormous debt of gratitude for all that she did to make this a better, “更人性化和有趣的地方," through the many roles she played in the course of her 38 years at Washington and Lee. Simpson House will help us remember her story as part of our efforts to recognize the many people who have shaped this institution and to learn from the principles that guided them, 他们面临的挑战, 他们享受的胜利, and the setbacks they endured as they collectively made W&今天是什么样子.

Thank you for being present at this momentous occasion. 我现在邀请你进入辛普森之家, where you may view a model of the plaque that will be installed in the lobby and the portrait of Pam Simpson that was taken early in her career by a former campus photographer named Sally Mann.