Response from President Katherine Rowe

“Dear [Committee Members] ,

I am reaching out to respond to the petition that was shared with me last week. It is not my usual practice to reply to communications that lack signatures; however, I take the matters you raise very seriously. I am writing to you personally because it is important that you have accurate information. I hope that you will share these facts with those who signed the petition.

I appreciate very much your stated commitment to research and discovery. Our landscape and buildings should, first and foremost, help educate. My understanding is that your report from last year has not been conveyed formally to the university. I have just now seen it via the link in your message. Should you wish it to be considered by the Design Review Board, please use our established processes.

I have welcomed the contextualization work sponsored by Student Assembly in the past because it was pursued with evident care. So I was surprised to see that this petition contains out-of-date and inaccurate information about the Bray School history and W&M’s engagement, the programs that will collaborate in the renovated building, and the honoree.

W&M’s commitment to uncovering the history of the Williamsburg Bray School is a strategic priority – part of a portfolio of research in local African-American history that began with the Lemon Project more than a decade ago. Over the past six years, W&M has raised more than $11M from foundations, the Commonwealth, and private philanthropy to support this innovative work in public humanities.

This coming fall, W&M and Colonial Williamsburg will open the restored schoolhouse at its new site in the historic area. Please stay tuned for that announcement in the coming months and join us if you are able to. In the meantime, the recent feature on the Today Show gives a sense of the meaningful work underway. We are thrilled at the prospect of millions of people visiting Williamsburg in 2026 and discovering these new stories.

The Bray School’s descendant community has been engaged throughout this process and is vital to the ongoing research in W&M’s Bray School Lab. They will continue to be our partners as we work to create a fitting commemoration that will honor the site as the Bray School’s first location. (We know that the Bray School children and teachers occupied the building for a few years before moving elsewhere in town.)

Toward that goal, the renovation will allow for something we could not otherwise have achieved: uncovering the first Bray School building foundations. We believe that parts of the foundations were left intact when the Women’s Missionary Society of the Virginia Methodist Conference built Brown Hall in 1930. Like so much else in Williamsburg, this site is a palimpsest: richer for the traces of every early form we can uncover from erasure.

The building currently stands vacant and decaying. By repurposing it in a sustainable way, we will bring together three impactful university labs that involve hundreds of students each year in their teaching and research: W&M’s Global Research Institute, Institute for Integrative Conservation, and Whole of Government Center for Excellence. Those who have conducted research with these different communities of practice know about their work restoring ecosystems and advancing peace and safety for communities around the world. I invite you to explore more deeply what they do.

The W&M Foundation owns and therefore named the transformed building in honor of Chancellor Gates because he is one of W&M’s most distinguished alumni. He has devoted himself to serving the United States and his alma mater. Presidents from two parties – President Bush and President Obama – chose him as their close partner in leadership. President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of this extraordinary service. His outspoken commitment to differing perspectives and viewpoints is vital to our democracy, especially at the present moment. Given his extensive work that bridges theory with practice, it is fitting that the building that will house W&M research on international policy and conservation will bear his name.

Sincerely,

– President Rowe”