Hagewood interview
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[Begin Tape 2, Side 1]
Warren: This is tape two with Dallas Hagewood.
Hagewood: A funny thing my freshman year was working on student phone-a-thons.
We were all up in the Alumni House, and phones all around, and we're sitting there,
and they'd told us what to say, and there was a little sheet that says, "Here's what you
should say, and just kind of chat it up with the alum. Tell them about the weather in
Lexington. Ask them if there's a professor they want to say hello to. Make them feel
good about their school again. And then go after 'em for money."

         I remember my freshman year I made a phone call to a guy, and he was an older
gentleman, and I don't really remember exactly what he said, but it was something to
the effect of, "No. I stopped giving as soon as they decided to go coed."

         And there I was, you know, a student, girl, obviously a girl, on the phone, who
had presented herself as a freshman and said, "Just calling you from Washington and
Lee to encourage you to give to the Annual Fund," and have him say that to me, I
remember just going, "Oh, my God." [Laughter] But I kind of laughed it off. I kind of
looked to one of the other girls who was working with me. I was like, "Well, you
wouldn't believe what this guy had to say." But he was very honest. He said, "Here's
the deal. They went coed. I wasn't for it, so I stopped giving to the school." But I
remember that was my first experience with the issue of alumni and coeducation, and
how much of a problem that might or might not be through the years. It really wasn't
that big a deal, and they've really come around.
Warren: But while you were a student, say, during reunions, what was that like?
Hagewood: Oh, yeah. The topic always came up. The men would ask, "What's it like?
Do you like it?" And while they weren't rude in any way whatsoever, you could tell
that they were just like, "Oh, gosh. Girls." Which is why I think we were real careful in
the first couple of years not to do anything too "girly." You know, we were trying real
hard to assimilate. Which is probably a bad word. I've heard stories about the old

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W&L Assimilation Committee, which is something we're probably not supposed to talk
about. But we probably felt like we were under the watch of an Assimilation
Committee. You know, don't rock the boat, let's try to make this as easy as possible. I
think we were real conscious of it.

         But it's funny, looking back on it now. At the time, I didn't notice anything. I
was just going to school. I really didn't notice any tension. Looking back on it, I can
probably see that some of it was there, but at the time—we were laughing, my friend
Jenny and I were laughing this morning about when we first got here there were no
girls' bathrooms. I mean, there were definitely boys' bathrooms that had been
modified, very quickly, to become girls' bathrooms. There were still urinals in them.
Thinking back on it, it was really disgusting. We put a little wooden box over this
urinal and drilled little holes in it and it was our toothbrush holder. [Laughter] It's so
gross thinking about it now, but we didn't want to look at that urinal every day. So just
little things that it was obviously all male at one point.

         Also funny was the way our dorms were configured. I lived in Graham-Lees,
which was just the best dorm. But the year I was a freshman, they had all the women in
the middle and all the men on the two wings, on two sides. So the men, to get from one
room to the next, were always coming through our hall, which I loved. I mean, that
was great. We were always definitely in towels running from the bathroom, and the
men were running through. It just didn't make any difference. I think since then they
changed it to floor by floor, where all the women are on a floor, all the men are on a
floor. But I loved the way we had it set up, where we were all right in the middle and
the men were on the sides. But bathrooms were funny.

         And then I remember girls' schools, women from girls' schools would stay in the
dorms, and they would be using our bathrooms, so every Thursday morning, or
Saturday morning, or Sunday morning, we'd have a whole new crew of women in our
bathroom, which was real funny. I know it was real tense for them. We didn't mind at

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all, but I know they felt real strange about it. I don't know what they did before there
were women's bathrooms here.
Warren: I do. I'll tell you afterwards. [Laughter]

         All right. One last question and I'm going to let you go. ODK. You were in
ODK. Is that a big deal?
Hagewood: I made a college bracelet a couple of weeks ago. This is all the stuff that I
got when I was at W&L.
Warren: Let's go, charm by charm.
Hagewood: Charm by charm. This is embarrassing, and I only did it because, literally,
I had all these gold pieces sitting in my jewelry box. I was like, "That is a shame to not
put them on something that I can keep." And I'll say this just in light of it all built me
up to be the person that I wanted to be and also built me up to be the person to turn
around and serve W&L back, because I kept getting things from W&L. Not that I didn't
deserve them, I just really did feel like somebody had said, "This person's going to be a
good student." And I do feel like sometimes people start on the wrong path and they
get a reputation of not being a good student, and it's very hard to fight that, whereas I
felt like I started on some good path, and from then on everything I did just worked, it
worked out well.

         So I guess I got the Freshman Honorary Society, and then the ODK initiation,
which, again, that is the school—that's who did it, it's the school. It's nobody else. It's
the school bestowing on you an honor, where, again, I'd have to turn around and give
back to the school. That was a real special thing for me, because ODK is a lot more than
academic. I mean, all my life it was, like, yeah, academics, it's a given. I study and I do
well. I take tests well. [Laughter] But ODK was real special because they believed that
I could be a leader. They believed that I could do other things other than just study. So
that was a real special one for me.

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         And then I got Phi Beta Kappa my junior year, which was also a real special
honor. So it was just kind of one thing after another. Then I got a business scholarship
in my junior year. Then I got the highest accounting thing. So it kind of kept pouring
out. It was just such a great experience. Now I'm embarrassed even talking about it
because other people deserved to get these awards, too. But it really was a great
experience, and I even forget about the number of things that I actually ended up
receiving from the school. I got a chair, which I absolutely love. I just cherish it. I got
one of the great black W&L chairs.

         I had one other funny thing to tell you. I can't remember what it was. I'll think
of it in a second. But I guess that's about it. I kept continually getting from this school.
So I really do feel a commitment to try to return the favor.
Warren: So how often do you come back now?
Hagewood: Probably two or three times a year. A lot of my friends love to come back
on a weekend that's not anything special. I think that would be really fun. And then I
come back twice a year for the board meeting, which again is yet another—even after
school—another honor bestowed on me. It keeps coming from W&L, and it's just
unbelievable.
Warren: What was it like to be asked to be on the board?
Hagewood: It was a little scary. I was kind of like, "I'm not sure if I'm going to be a
good board member. I'm still a young person. I don't really know what I can
contribute, except that I can contribute the female side of things. Maybe that's what you
want." But it's such a huge honor to be recognized as not only a student who did well
here, but just an alum. I'd really taken on some big responsibilities in the Atlanta
chapter. I threw a real big Fancy Dress South down in Atlanta.
Warren: Wow. I bet that was popular.
Hagewood: At the Ritz Carlton. It was really fun. We had about three hundred people
come. It was black tie. It was super fun. But I think that that might have been why my

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name was even brought up as somebody who was still interested in W&L and still
doing things for the school, so that worked out great.

         I'm just real thrilled to be a part, and it's just so wonderful. I feel like I know
these people so well. I know the W&L community better now than I did before, just
because I get to come back as an adult and get to know the professors even better. So
that's been a lot of fun.
Warren: Dallas, I want to thank you. It's been a joy.
Hagewood: Well, it's been kind of a rambling session, I know. I kept remembering
things that happened. And there was so much more that happened, but you'll get all
those stories from people.
Warren: Well, I'm trying. You told me some I hadn't heard before.
Hagewood: Well, it was fun, but now I really want to go out there and see y'all again.
Warren: Now you're all ready for tomorrow's session.
Hagewood: Yes, I've got this all down.
Warren: Got you primed. Actually, you'll probably be lousy tomorrow, because I got
all the good stuff.
Hagewood: I know. I know everything to say.
Warren: Well, this is for posterity.
Hagewood: Great. Well, I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about it.
Warren: Thank you, Dallas.
Hagewood: Thank you.
[End of interview]

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