Mike Rennard As a 2007 alumnus, I was incredibly disheartened to read the decision published yesterday by the Washington and Lee University Board of Trustees, in which the Board voted 22-6 against changing the name of the university. Imagine the impact of this decision on young Black and brown people who are making decisions about where to apply to college. Imagine its impact on your current students and alumni of color, who will correctly read this as an affirmation of the universityâs commitment to a racist legacy. In its statement, the Board declares, âWe repudiate racism, racial injustice, and the denial of fundamental dignity to any individual in our society. We regret the universityâs past veneration of the Confederacy and its role in perpetuating âThe Lost Causeâ myths that sustained racism. We regret the fact that the university itself owned human beings and benefited from their forced labor and sale.â