Several Speakers, However, Want Lexington To Do More
Lexington Mayor Frank Friedman opened last Thursday’s City Council meeting by reading a statement by the city in support of Virginia Military Institute.
When the floor was opened to public comments later in the meeting, several citizens said they wanted more than a statement – they wanted a vote on a resolution either in support of VMI, in opposition to the proposed bills that could impact the institute, or both.
“If Washington and Lee [University] was under scrutiny, would Lexington not publicly offer a vote of confidence?” asked Mary Stuart Harlow. “If the University of Virginia were under scrutiny, would Charlottesville not publicly voice its support? If Hampden- Sydney were under scrutiny, would Farmville not stand by them?
“Lexington City Council exists to serve the people who elected them,” she continued. “Our city and the city council must not stand on the fence … The cadets, the faculty and the staff of VMI deserve no less than a resolution of support. And the mayor’s statement tonight, and the absence of a vote on this, I think falls short.”
In the statement, Friedman, speaking on behalf of the city, noted several times that Lexington “stands with VMI,” adding that the city “values their contributions to our community.”
The statement also said that Lexington’s leaders had contacted VMI Superintendent Lt. Gen. David Furness to ask how the city could “support the VMI team’s efforts to respond and navigate these bills.” The answer, Friedman said, was for the city to “Standby,” and that is what the city leadership has been doing.
“The last thing the city of Lexington wanted to do was undermine or foul up the efforts of the VMI team,” he said. “Thus, we have stood fast in support of our neighbors and the good work of the superintendent’s team, ready to help as they see fit.
“The city of Lexington affirms that VMI is an important part of our fabric and a valued neighbor for their many contributions to the greater Lexington area,” he continued. “The city of Lexington also knows VMI remains focused on their stated mission to ‘produce educated, honorable, and self-disciplined citizen-leaders prepared for the military, public service or private sector.’ The city of Lexington has been and will continue to be supportive of VMI, its mission and to a shared productive and vibrant future.”
Jan Lowry, speaking on behalf of the Rockbridge Area Republican Committee, encouraged Council to pass resolutions in support if the Institute and in opposition to the bills.
“VMI shouldn’t be a political football tossed back and forth in the General Assembly, regardless of its leadership,” she said. “Rockbridge and Lexington citizens need to stand up and speak out in support of VMI and oppose these bills presented in Richmond. These bills – although in amended versions [that] are a bit better than what was presented – still create an unnecessary disruption for both the General Assembly and VMI.”
Sam Collins, who lives in Lexington, said that he was looking for the city to be “proactive, not reactive.”
“The statement I heard tonight is reactive,” he said. “It’s almost too late. As soon as these bills came out, any business would have had a communication plan, because this affects the business, the income, the economics, the environment of Lexington. Waiting for the winds to change, for the language to change, is too late. Even if there is a statement that is approved, it will be too late.”
Collins noted that several other counties have already passed resolutions on this matter. The Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted in favor of a resolution in support of VMI and opposing the original language of the bills at its meeting on Feb. 9, and the Augusta County Board of Supervisors also passed resolutions opposing the bills during its Feb. 11 meeting.
“Lexington now has to take a position,” Collins said. “We should be leaders. We should lead [on] this issue because we are the ones that are affected.”
Others who spoke simply expressed support for VMI. Paul Creal of Newport News, whose son is a second-year cadet at VMI, praised the Institute for the opportunities it offers and the leaders it produces.
“If you dissect the structure, activities and opportunities that VMI provides cadets, it is above and beyond what other colleges in Virginia provide,” he said. “In the last two-and-a-half years of my son being a cadet here, I’ve gotten to know him in a different light.”
Creal also talked about his experience working and serving with VMI graduates during his nearly three-decade long career in the military.
“To a man and woman, what VMI produces in terms of character is bar none,” he said. “I would put them a step ahead of what West Point establishes.”
Lexington resident Sterling Mullins also praised the quality of leaders that the Institute produces and spoke about the impact these bills could have.
“The caliber of leaders VMI produces is peerless,” he said. “They make the other leadership roles in the war-fighting community better. All of our service members deserve to have the best leaders they can and any disruption that is going to rob VMI cadets of some skill that they are going to need later on will equate to lives lost.
“This stretches far outside of the county,” he continued. “It’s global. For those of us who have friends and relatives and sons and daughters in the war-fighting community now, they need the best leaders that VMI can possibly produce without disruptions to how they’re doing it now.”
