College of William and Mary to Investigate Its Racial History

The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has announced plans to investigate the university’s ties to slavery. Research has shown that the college owned five to 10 slaves and may have rented other slaves for construction projects.

The committee will also investigate race relations at the college since the end of slavery to the present day. Kimberley Phillips and Robert Vinson, two African-American faculty members in the college’s history department, have been named to head the investigation.

Blacks now make up 7 percent of the student body at the college.