‘An Ethos of Caring’ Looking back on more than 40 years of Kathekon

Grace Sanborn
May 13, 2026

For most Washington and Lee University students, the first weekend in May is a chance to settle in at the start of Spring Term or to prepare to travel abroad. However, a select few spend their time assisting at W&L’s Alumni Weekend — giving golf cart rides to W&L legends like the late Tom Wolfe ’51 and the late Sen. John W. Warner III ‘49 and greeting the returning classes. These students are members of Kathekon, an organization that has been a part of Washington and Lee’s alumni engagement team for more than 40 years.

“The seeds of Kathekon are bigger than W&L. It has helped to create civic-minded people who go out and make their communities better with whatever resources they have.” — Ben Hale ‘85

The product of collaboration between Director of Alumni Programs Dick Sessoms, Associate Director of Alumni Programs Buddy Atkins ’68, P’93, P’97 and student intern Ben Hale ’85, Kathekon was formed in the fall of 1984. Charged to serve as ambassadors to the Alumni Association, Kathekon members became important points of contact for alumni when they were on campus.

Hale helped recruit the inaugural Kathekon class from students who were involved in various organizations and leadership roles across campus to create a group that would have an “ethos of service to the university,” according to University Trustee Jim Kerr ’86, P’27, who served as Kathekon’s first president during the 1985-86 academic year. In its early years, Kathekon consisted of about 18 members across undergraduate juniors and seniors and law students who met for breakfast on Monday mornings.

“Students, I realized, are all alumni-in-residence,” Sessoms said. He described W&L’s alumni network as a “sleeping giant” when he started working in Alumni Affairs in 1983. He found that many alumni loved the university and wanted to see it succeed but were not actively engaged. “My goal was to rouse the giant,” he continued. Along with starting class reunion giving campaigns and challenges, Kathekon became his secret weapon to re-engage the alumni network.

Kathekon’s core mission is to connect current students with W&L alumni. In its first years, members staffed alumni events on and off campus and served as the points of contact for alumni and Board of Trustees members when they were on campus. The group coordinated Homecoming programming and served as liaisons between the student body and alumni. One of Kathekon’s longstanding goals has also been to support and uphold campus traditions such as the Honor System and Speaking Tradition.

“It didn’t take long for everyone to realize that Kathekon was a pretty special group of people,” Sessoms said.

When searching for a name for the new organization, Alumni Affairs took the concept to members of the classics department. They came back with “Kathekon,” which derives from a Greek phrase that means “an ethos of caring” or “to do that which is meet and proper.”

Kerr saw Kathekon as an opportunity to get students thinking about their role and responsibilities as alumni before they left Lexington.

“There are true bonds among W&L alumni,” Kerr said. “Kathekon members directly established those bonds before we even left campus.”

“There are true bonds among W&L alumni. Kathekon members directly established those bonds before we even left campus.” — Jim Kerr ’86, P’27

From its nascence, Kathekon provided an opportunity for students to collaborate and socialize with each other across affiliations. The group sought to engage students from as many areas of campus as possible and recruited representatives from athletics, the arts, the Greek system and other student organizations. With its genesis in the same year W&L made the decision to admit women in the undergraduate program, Sessoms ensured that women in both the law school and the College were included from the start.

“It was an honor to be in Kathekon,” said Mike McGarry ’87, P’14, P’16, the organization’s second president. “For me, it was an absolute privilege to get to know and spend time with people who had committed to various areas of the campus. The people who had risen to be the leaders of different organizations were universally interesting people.”

“It was the one place that you could create relations across the spectrum of the school,” past member Mary New Dalton ’98 said. She described Kathekon as a “little ray of sunshine” that touched many different areas of campus.

While the first classes of Kathekon were invitation-only, the group decided to implement an application and interview process in 1991. Beau Dudley ’74, ’79L, who served as executive director of alumni affairs from 2006 to 2022, worked to ensure the group represented a broad cross-section of W&L students. There are currently 47 undergraduate members of Kathekon.

“We were looking for people who would be very comfortable and excited to interact with alumni and be an ambassador for the school,” he said.

The explosion of technology and social media at the outset of the 21st century made it easier for alumni to visit W&L and Lexington from anywhere in the world. In response, Kathekon has expanded its focus to upholding W&L traditions.

“As both the digital age and broader institutional advances took shape, Kathekon has been transitioning to being more peer-to-peer facing,” said John Jensen ’01, executive director of alumni and career services. “Our Kathekon students today still play a major role in welcoming alumni to campus, but their primary duty is educating the student body on the W&L traditions that have been around for generations: the Speaking Tradition being one of the most important.”

“I’m delighted that, over the years, Kathekon grew into a bigger civic organization than its original scope,” Hale said.

In the early 2000s, Kathekon students began to organize events designed to encourage students to uphold the Speaking Tradition. Originally a bi-annual “Say Hey” Day, the event expanded to fill an entire week this year.

“‘Say Hey’ Day really promotes the idea of looking at someone and acknowledging them, which is a skill that you need when you’re talking to alumni or older people in the professional world,” said Bella Timmerding ’26, a member of the Kathekon Steering Committee.

For Lauren Bradshaw Palmer ’01, who is currently serving on her 25th Reunion Committee, being a member of Kathekon went beyond interacting with alumni.

“I think it taught us to be good representatives of W&L everywhere we went, which to me, includes the Speaking Tradition and all those aspects of W&L that become a way of life,” Palmer said.

Kathekon has also shifted to connect W&L students to more professional and networking opportunities.

“Kathekon does a good job of bridging alumni with current students,” Timmerding said. “That’s important, because those sorts of opportunities only happen if you encourage students to reach out and show them that alumni are very willing and want to help.”

“Today’s students are tomorrow’s alumni,” Jensen said. “In order for our secret sauce to continue to work, we need our current students to understand both why our alumni network is so strong and what it takes to continue its growth.”

Dudley sees Kathekon as a “two-way street” that increases alumni engagement and encourages students to stay active after graduation.

“If you pull the list of Kathekon members, you’re going to see people who are running chapters, who have been on the alumni board, who have become Trustees and who are really engaged and supportive of the school,” Dudley said. “That is the best possible outcome of having a group like Kathekon.”

Kerr joined fellow Kathekon alumnus Lee Hollis ’86 on the Board of Trustees in February; multiple Kathekon alumni have served as Trustees in the past. For many, Kathekon is a springboard for engagement at W&L.

“Being recognized for caring about the university, its culture and your friends was an honor,” said David Perdue ’85, an inaugural Kathekon member. “It made you feel good. I think it inspires people to live up to that ideal as alumni.”

For many Kathekon alumni, it is more than a student organization; it has created friendships, opportunities and pathways to give back to W&L. As these “alumni-in-residence” graduate and join the alumni network, they leave Lexington knowing they will always carry W&L with them.

“The seeds of Kathekon are bigger than W&L,” Hale said. “A lot of those people, if you look back, they’ve all gone out and become civic leaders. That’s the big thing — Kathekon has made the world better. It’s not just that it has made W&L better. It has helped to create civic-minded people who go out and make their communities better with whatever resources they have.”