The Institute for Honor:

2009 Topic to be Announced

January 30-31, 2009

W&L’s fall, winter, and spring weekend seminars continue to be a popular feature of the Alumni College, for the programs offer participants a substantive weekend getaway in the beautiful environs of Lexington and Rockbridge County. Participants stay in local inns, with the program, receptions, dinner, and lunch on campus. The per person cost of each of these programs is $195. Programs begin on Friday afternoon and conclude after lunch on Saturday.

Established in 2000 at Washington and Lee University by a generous endowment from the Class of 1960, the Institute for Honor held its seventh annual weekend seminar on Jan. 18-19, 2008. This year’s program, entitled “Moral Authority and the Modern American Presidency,” focused on the central question, “Do truth, honor, and integrity still govern the daily business of the White House?” The Institute’s keynote address was delivered by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Bob Woodward of The Washington Post. President Ford’s pardon of former President Richard Nixon and President Bush’s conduct of the war in Iraq provided the grist for much of Woodward’s reflections on truth-telling in the Oval Office. Also speaking in the program was W&L politics professor Bob Strong, scholar and author on the American presidency.

The objective of the Institute is to promote the understanding and practice of honor as an indispensable element of society. Its mandate is to provide an educational and resource management facility dedicated to the advocacy of honor as the core value in personal, professional, business, and community relations. With a maximum enrollment of 175 alumni, students, and faculty, the seminar includes lectures, readings, and small group discussions as well as a reception and dinner on Friday and farewell luncheon on Saturday.

The topic for the eighth annual Institute for Honor, Jan. 30-31, 2009, is currently under development. Look for an announcement in the fall.