The last time the Virginia Military Institute was nearly destroyed was when Union troops burned it during the Civil War. But today a new threat to this legendary college comes from within the Old Dominion itself, in the form of woke Democratic politicians.
Action at the Virginia Legislature in response to allegations of systemic racism at the institution could not only strip the nation’s oldest state-run military college of its independence but also cut off the funding it needs to survive.
Last week, Department of War Under Secretary Pete Hegseth took to social media to support VMI, writing that “the stability of this proven leadership pipeline is a matter of immediate national security interest” and that the department “reserves the right to take extraordinary measures to protect the integrity of VMI.”
VMI cadets oppose the Virginia Democrats’ proposed investigations, warning that the legislation could take away funding and threaten the survival of the historic military college. (Courtesy of VMI)
After spending some time this week in Lexington, Virginia, the mountainous home of VMI, it is clear that the university is not only a national treasure, but a local treasure as well.
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“VMI is the beating heart of Lexington,” Melinda, a teacher who has lived in the city for decades, told me. “I can’t imagine the place without it.”
I met John, who graduated from VMI in the early 2000s and who said of the alleged racism and sexism, “The people who hate VMI just hate VMI because they think it represents the Confederacy.” He stressed that the allegations are exaggerated because every cadet adheres to the same code of conduct.
Even a group of anti-President Donald Trump protesters I encountered on a chilly Friday afternoon had little but positive things to say about VMI.
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“We were disappointed by the resignation of the superintendent,” Annette told me, referring to Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins, the school’s first black principal, who was fired last year. “But we all love VMI.”
Republican lawmakers blame Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger and renewed DEI efforts for what they describe as an ideological push that could endanger the nation’s oldest state-backed military university. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images / Photo by Greg Nelson /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
So if basically everyone in Lexington thinks VMI is great, and if it has provided America with great military leadership, from General George S. Patton to General George C. Marshall, why is it on the chopping block?
Because of wokism’s insatiable hunger for destruction.
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VMI is integrally linked to the history of the Confederacy. The most famous instructor was Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, whose preserved horse can be visited in the university museum. But over the course of the 20th century, the school has acquiesced, often going to great lengths to do so.
Take, for example, the historical marker for Benjamin West Clinedinst’s epic painting “Charge of the New Market Cadets.” It says:
“Although ‘Charge of the New Market Cadets’ was completed at a time in American history when the ‘Lost Cause’ ideology was pervasive in Virginia, the painting does not serve the VMI community today as a commemoration of a Confederate victory, or as a celebration of the Confederacy…”
This is what political correctness looked like, sheepishly apologizing for your own culture when no one asked you to. But being awake is different. Wokeness cannot tolerate the existence of ties with the evil past.
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the IRS news points to “what we’re doing to rebuild our military.” (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Even my hotel, which was called the Robert E. Lee for almost a century, has a new name. The only reference to Lee left is a plaque indicating that the elevator is an original Otis car, installed in 1926.
Erasing history lurks around every corner, and now it’s coming for VMI.
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The Union Army artillery chief who shelled and destroyed much of VMI in 1864, over his personal objections, was a Delaware man named Henry A. Du Pont, who as a U.S. Senator in 1914 passed legislation to reimburse the school for the damage he caused.
These are the kinds of stories that echo through the halls of the Institute, stories of imperfect men of an imperfect nation, striving for greater perfection. If the campus gets quiet on a cold, crisp winter day, you can hear them.
Last week the VMI Class of 2001 wrote a open letter to Abigail Spanberger, Governor of Virginia, published in Lexington’s News Gazette. There are two things that are notable about this class: it was the first class to include women, and it graduated during the war.
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“We integrated women into the force when the nation doubted this was possible,” the letter said. “We have produced citizen soldiers of every race and background who trained, served and bled together. We have not proven this through symbolism. We have proven it in Fallujah, Kandahar, the Korengal and at military funerals across the Commonwealth.”
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With Democrats clearly in control of political power in Virginia, the threat to VMI’s funding and future is very real. That is why it is so important that Hegseth and the Ministry of War make it clear that they provide a safety net to keep this special place running.
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A nation and a people are its history, and few institutions possess as much of it as VMI. A city and a community are its institutions, the places that are old and storied, and in Lexington that is VMI.
Long may the Virginia Military Institute and its traditions continue.
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