Princeton weighs erasing U.S. President Wilson's name over racist ties
Source: Reuters
Princeton University has pledged to consider renaming buildings dedicated to former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in the latest U.S. campus effort to quell student complaints of racism by tweaking names, titles and mascots.
A deal top administrators signed late Thursday with student demonstrators ended a 32-hour sit-in outside Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber's office.
At about the same time, a threat against the university triggered a campus-wide safety alert but on Friday was "deemed not credible," school security officials said.
Protest organizers at the Ivy League university in New Jersey urged Princeton to remove Wilson's name and image from its public spaces and from its Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/20/us-usa-race-princeton-idUSKCN0T91BM20151120
(1) Those who advocate mass dehumanization should not be lionized.
(2) But isn't the student activists' logic just as bad as that of the right wingers who argue "Planned Parenthood is evil because Margaret Sanger was racist in the early 20th century"?
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TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)FDR needs to be cleansed from public or institutional recognition as well, then. Start taking down the monuments and renaming stuff everywhere, because few of our Presidents ever truly rose above the times and culture they lived in.
7962
(11,841 posts)I said this was going to get ridiculous when the president of UM was forced to resign by a football team. And it has. And it will continue to spread as long as these kids think they can get whatever they want.
Pretty soon everything is going to offend everyone.
d_legendary1
(2,586 posts)Cuz Tim Wolfe (Mizzou) was an asshole. He blamed AA students for the institutional racism happening in the University Campus.
Donna Shalala (University of Miami) retired.
Not sure what this has to do with the story. 
7962
(11,841 posts)And I'm not buying that he blamed the students for "institutional racism". The word " institutional" itself would suggest being in place before any current students were even there. He said he was not blaming them. So now the school will create a bunch of groups or studies or whatever which will accomplish little if anything. I wouldnt be surprised if the students are right back in the streets a yr from now.
Was anyone caught for the swasitka incident? How WOULD you catch them? And who knows who was in a vehicle hollering? They may not have even been students. The one drunk asshole who WAS caught was put out of school, so what else WOULD they do to him? Theres only so much an administration can do with the evidence at hand. And we've already seen many cases elsewhere where people make shit up, which ruins any progress being made. And the guy staging the hunger strike talking about his "struggles" failed to mention how tough it must be to be raised in a family where his dad made 8 million last year!
And now colleges everywhere are having groups taking over offices, demanding everything under the sun and staging walkouts.
This isnt going to go well when they actually have to get out of school and get a job.
First, could you please provide a link or some type of information about the young man whose father made $8 million last year? Second, I agree with most, if not all, of what you said. There is only so much school administration can do to prevent racism on college campuses. It is very likely there will be racist students on all campuses. That is something students will have to deal with. I was thinking, if these kids cannot deal with paintings on walls and people saying mean things to them how are they going to deal with the real world. Not everyone is going to love them when they get into the real world.
7962
(11,841 posts)And you are right. The "real world" is full of good and bad. Of course blatant acts of aggression or racism or violence, etc should be dealt with. But look at where we are now; students taking over Princeton to get rid of a Presidents NAME? Everything is offending SOMEONE and its gotten ridiculous. This snowball will continue to roll until someone has the guts to stand up to it.
d_legendary1
(2,586 posts)In solving a hate crime. Its a no-brainer for anyone who is serious about the safety of all their students. Have the police do all the legwork and eventually you'll catch the jerks who keep harassing students. But rather than do something about it the administrators just take notes and call it day. They treat discrimination the same way they treat rape victims on campus: no police, arbitration, and eventually close the case due to stalling by administrators.
This is what Tim Wolfe said about institutionalized racism: "Systematic oppression is because you don’t believe that you have the equal opportunity for success." So, yeah it seems like this was in place looong before the students attended the college. Hell, there are universities that still hold on to their old school traditions by keeping the names of confederate generals on their buildings.
And the guy staging the hunger strike talking about his "struggles" failed to mention how tough it must be to be raised in a family where his dad made 8 million last year!
What does that even mean? Its okay to discriminate against a person of color because their parents are rich? There are problems out there that even money can't solve.
And now colleges everywhere are having groups taking over offices, demanding everything under the sun and staging walkouts.
Like who?
7962
(11,841 posts)Oklahoma, etc. Where you been?
One of the more ridiculous ones was in California, where students DEMANDED the junior class president resign because she was in a picture that had 2 OTHER women wearing sombreros and ponchos on Halloween. SHE wasnt but she was in the picture. Its just ridiculous. These folks are gonna have a real hard time when they get out in the real world.
As for calling the cops, sure, thats what you & I would do, but colleges hardly EVER call the cops first, they call their own security force.
As far as Wolfe's statement, how is that not actually pretty accurate when it comes to many people? I'm guilty of it myself sometimes.
d_legendary1
(2,586 posts)What exactly is wrong with that? Did you think that Mizzo was an isolated incident? Have you seen the cost of tuition now a days? If I had been a student at this day and age I'd be knee deep in debt and probably wouldn't get my bachelor's in Business Management from FIU coming from a family that is considered working poor. If it wasn't for a scholarship and my former employer picking up the balance I would not be in the position I find myself today.
BTW Have you seen that picture?
What exactly is the point of holding a "Sorry" sign if this is a Halloween picture?
And you're forgetting one important thing that these students are learning from all this: they can change what happens to their future. The right to protest, the right to challenge the system, and the right to have their voices heard as long as they do it in a peaceful manner. Who are we to take that away from them? They should know their place when they get to the real world? What might that be? We're supposed to be a Democracy. Its bad enough we have Republicans trying to take us back to pre-industrial revolution standards. I'd rather not help them further that process along.
7962
(11,841 posts)And I blame a lot of it on the schools themselves. They seem to think high tuition equals "prestige". I got my education on the cheap; military, vocational and online. The most successful people I know dont even have college degrees. Many years college costs go up more than healthcare costs!!
All that aside, because i dont think it has much to do with these "demands" being put out there.
No, I really dont have a problem with the picture. Its halloween and hey, Mexican folks actually wear ponchos and sombreros. I've seen every race dress as everything under the sun. It just doesnt bother me. I had a guy dress like ME one year. So what? they're not hanging them or abusing them. I guess no more dressing up for mardi gras, or carnival, of anyone from the islands. No more wearing hula skirts or anything else
And at Dartmouth, the Provost actually apologizes to the BLM people who invaded a quiet library and harassed anyone who was white, cursing some, like they've done elsewhere in restaurants and other places. Cursing "white tears", cursing Paris "#fuckparis", pretty much cursing anyone not following them. You mention "peaceful protests"; all these things are hardly "peaceful". They're intent is to be in your face and DARE you to object. And therein lies the problem: A lot of people DO object, and this nonsense sets back REAL progressive change and support FOR that change. I've seen it among my FB friends; people who I've known for years who have been supportive with votes, money and labor. And I've seen them ask "what the hell is wrong with them? Dont they know the damage they're doing?"
Their "place" in the real world? Get a job and follow the rules of your job, just like the rest of us out here. Or start your own business where you get to make the rules. Either one works.
d_legendary1
(2,586 posts)The problem is that some students will end up dropping out since they won't be able to afford rising tuition. Not everyone ends up like Kanye West, successful dropout. Most people end up working for McDonald's, Walmart, or some other place earning minimum wage. Though a college education doesn't guarantee a job, the education gained from it could open doors down the line.
You probably don't have a problem with this either:
But hey, at least these kids aren't student vice presidents at a prestigious college so no harm, no foul right? They're just joshing us since its hallo-freakn'-ween! Its okay to make racists costumes on this day, ain't it?
The only outlets saying such bullshit are right wing outlets. Everyone else is saying that the Dartmouth protests have been peaceful so far. And just to remind you Black students who demand justice aren't infringing on anyone's rights.
But they need a good education or trade school to get a high paying job or to even start a business...Which is what they aren't getting due to rising tuition fees and racism...I feel like we're going in circles.
7962
(11,841 posts)Here's one of them:
You think thats "peaceful"? Its a damn library.
Here's an article written by one who had been a supporter until the train went off the rails.
http://thetab.com/us/dartmouth/2015/11/14/i-was-proud-to-be-part-of-last-nights-protest-until-it-turned-ugly-978
Of course, you may say he made it all up.
And more of the same will happen. I want to see bad cops off the streets. I will not support a bunch of people who just want to get their 15 mins of fame. If they interrupt me where ever i may be, I will ignore them as though they didnt exist.
d_legendary1
(2,586 posts)Campusreform.org is a project of the leadership institute, which is basically a conservative think tank. The Tab is associated with Rubert Murdoch's The Sun. I thought this kind of propaganda was not allowed on DU. I'm done here.
7962
(11,841 posts)I dont really care where it came from, if its real. If I ran BLM, I wouldnt want this one released either. If you want to ignore it simply because of WHO released it, thats a shame.
When I said "plenty of videos", I actually meant of other protests, not just the one in the library. Not just videos, but comments on their own pages. Look at last week, when the "#fuckparis" nonsense started. It wasnt like it was just a few people either, it was all over the place. But if you're fine with that ignorance, thats your right.
I wont support any group like that. And a lot of others who would normally be allies wont either.
Response to 7962 (Reply #14)
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TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)we had 18 Presidents who owned slaves?
(Van Buren doesn't really count though-- he only had one and let him escape)
Slavery and racism are evil parts of our history, but they are parts of our history and should confronted, not erased.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)ericson00
(2,707 posts)this kind of PCness makes liberals look stupid. I'm happy to see it might not go too far than extreme fringes.
7962
(11,841 posts)EL34x4
(2,003 posts)Like the Khmer Rouge did.
Edit: Fearing people might agree with me, I was only being sarcastic.
7962
(11,841 posts)On second thought, I've been around here 5 yrs.......you're right
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)Call it Potomac, MD.
SpankMe
(2,957 posts)If we erased everyone from our public institutions who had a racist or dishonorable past, then that would knock just about everyone in history. It's hard to judge characters of the past with the moral sensibilities of the present.
Even people we love and revere as visionaries and ahead of their time on a variety of issues may have some dirty laundry. That doesn't mean we throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Thomas Jefferson was a classic liberal of his era, and promoted many of the same sensibilities that present day liberals still hold dear. But, he was a slave owner none the less.
Sanitizing our connections to the past to serve some delicate sensitivities of the present has the potential to revise history every bit as much as what conservatives are proposing in some public school systems.
In some instances (not all, but some) we collectively have to thicken up our skin and focus on the positives that these characters of history provided us, while acknowledging their weaknesses. We should use those weaknesses as teachable cases to prevent bad things from happening in the future. By banishing them from public view and relegating them to obscure mentions in history books, we may be setting ourselves up to forget..about slavery, racism, genocide, etc.
I'm not saying we should bring back the confederate flag or name a museum after Hitler. The negatives of those far outdo their positives.
But if we want to start going down the road of, say, changing the name of the Ford Motor Company because Henry Ford was a bit of an anti-Semite, then we'll start forgetting our past. And you know what they say happens when you forget the past.
7962
(11,841 posts)Maybe theres hope after all
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Just like that!
JUST DO IT!
A name chiseled into stone was making a place unsafe? I know what would make a place safe, instead of paying contractors to remove Wilson's name, they give it to a rape prevention program on campus.
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)then I guess any university or college with anything named after Washington, Jefferson, Madison and God knows who else would have to make changes. At a certain point, this gets out of hand and needs to stop.
Even Lincoln held racist views and believed that only "highly intelligent" black men and black civil war veterans should be allowed to vote.
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)Academics don't want to get their hands too dirty, stick to history!
Plus it's ahistorical to take things out of context, if we did that Lincoln would be up for attack.
houston16revival
(953 posts)but you can't change it
It already happened
If mistakes were made they should remain a bitter reminder
and icon to cultural awareness
kwassa
(23,340 posts)JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)a history that is forgotten.
starroute
(12,977 posts)He lived at a time when the evils of racism were already apparent and did his best to not only uphold it but reverse what progress had been made within the federal government.
http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/war.crimes/US/Wilson.htm
A southern-born president, Woodrow Wilson's legacy has been dogged by his outright racism. In his writings, Wilson eulogized the antebellum South and lamented the period of reconstruction that followed the Civil War. To quote Wilson himself on this subject, "self-preservation {forced whites} to rid themselves, by fair means or foul, of the intolerable burden of governments sustained by the votes of ignorant negroes." Wilson excused the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in similar terms, calling it understandable in view of the "lawless" situation that victimized whites in the South after 1865. Wilson carried his racism into the public arena, both as president of Princeton University and as Governor of New Jersey. While the former, Wilson discouraged black from applying to his university, and as governor, Wilson refused to confirm the hiring of blacks in his administration.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/11/20/9766896/woodrow-wilson-racist
Easily the worst part of Wilson's record as president was his overseeing of the resegregation of multiple agencies of the federal government, which had been surprisingly integrated as a result of Reconstruction decades earlier. At an April 11, 1913, Cabinet meeting, Postmaster General Albert Burleson argued for segregating the Railway Mail Service. He took exception to the fact that workers shared glasses, towels, and washrooms. Wilson offered no objection to Burleson's plan for segregation, saying that he "wished the matter adjusted in a way to make the least friction."
Both Burleson and Treasury Secretary William McAdoo took Wilson's comments as authorization to segregate. The Department of Treasury and Post Office Department both introduced screened-off workspaces, separate lunchrooms, and separate bathrooms. In a 1913 open letter to Wilson, W.E.B. DuBois — who had supported Wilson in the 1912 election before being disenchanted by his segregation policies — wrote of "one colored clerk who could not actually be segregated on account of the nature of his work [and who] consequently had a cage built around him to separate him from his white companions of many years." That's right: Black people who couldn't, logistically, be segregated were put in literal cages.
Outright dismissals were also common. Upon taking office, Wilson himself fired 15 out of 17 black supervisors in the federal service and replaced them with white people. After the Treasury and Post Office began segregating, many black workers were let go. The head of the Internal Revenue division in Georgia fired all his black employees, saying, "There are no government positions for Negroes in the South. A Negro's place in the corn field." To enable hiring discrimination going forward, in 1914 the federal government began requiring photographs on job applications.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)I think the evils of racism were fairly apparent when this guy was in the KKK.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)Wilson was very racist by the standards of his own time.
Xithras
(16,191 posts)Wilson was one of the most liberal and progressive Presidents in American history on every subject except race. When it comes to race, he was one of the worst.
Wilson was the first southerner elected to the Presidency since the Civil War, and the government he took over was racially integrated when he walked in the door. Blacks held high ranking positions in the government, all facilities were shared between races, and the government was prohibited from considering race in hiring and promotions.
When Wilson came in, he immediately put his own son-in-law in charge of segregating Washington. He segregated drinking fountains, restrooms, and dining facilities. He made it impossible for African Americans to get into leadership positions. He had offices rearranged and partitions installed so that black and white workers couldn't see each other.
When a delegation of black business professionals, led by a Harvard alum and newspaper editor, gained an audience with Wilson to protest the new segregation policies, Wilson famously told them “segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen.”
The famous pro-KKK film "Birth of a Nation" was also created by a longtime friend of Wilsons, and many of the subtitles in the film are actually quotes from Wilson's own writings.
So, the question on the floor is this. Wilson is, without question, one of the most important liberal Presidents in American history. Does that outweigh the fact that he didn't simply support, but ACTIVELY PROMOTED racism and CREATED segregationist policies? If someone does VERY VERY good things while ALSO doing VERY VERY bad things, how should history regard them?
ON EDIT: For what it's worth, I personally think these campus protest movements crossed the line into pointless comedy a while back, and it's hard to take them seriously anymore, but I happen to agree with the Princeton protesters on this issue. I have no problem lauding Wilson's genuine accomplishments, but his racist behaviors went far beyond "a reflection of his time", and he shouldn't be honored by having major monuments and building in his name.
RobinA
(9,888 posts)him as a person who did VERY VERY bad things and VERY VERY good things. Why is it so hard for people to wrap their heads around the fact that people are capable of both. And this doesn't just happen in the matter of race, it happens every time somebody who did a world of good turns out to have done some really bad things. People then have to throw the individual to the wolves for the bad without regard for the good. Bad people do good things. Good people do bad things. Why has this black and white invaded our thinking to this extent? It's really kind of juvenile.
starroute
(12,977 posts)I can forgive Jimmy Carter for messing up Afghanistan. I can't forgive Nixon even if he did establish the EPA and the Clean Air Act and recognize China. I'm pretty evenly divided when it comes to LBJ -- though I sure wouldn't want to attend a school named for him.
And though Wilson seemed like a progressive hero when we learned about him in high school, everything that's come out about him since has been disillusioning.
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)starroute
(12,977 posts)That's the one they've thrown at Chelsea Manning and want to throw at Snowden and Assange. Wilson spent a year prodding Congress to pass it, and his only regret was that they took out the bit allowing him to censor newspapers.
In any case, I wouldn't have any objections to honoring Wilson with a monument out in a park somewhere. But expecting minority students to study in buildings with his name on them or be part of a program named after him seems like rubbing it in.
struggle4progress
(118,273 posts)Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled
Title I - ESPIONAGE
Section 1
That:
(a) whoever, for the purpose of obtaining information respecting the national defence with intent or reason to believe that the information to be obtained is to be used to the injury of the United States, or to the advantage of any foreign nation, goes upon, enters, flies over, or otherwise obtains information, concerning any vessel, aircraft, work of defence, navy yard, naval station, submarine base, coaling station, fort, battery, torpedo station, dockyard, canal, railroad, arsenal, camp, factory, mine, telegraph, telephone, wireless, or signal station, building, office, or other place connected with the national defence, owned or constructed, or in progress of construction by the United States or under the control or the United States, or of any of its officers or agents, or within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, or any place in which any vessel, aircraft, arms, munitions, or other materials or instruments for use in time of war are being made, prepared, repaired. or stored, under any contract or agreement with the United States, or with any person on behalf of the United States, or otherwise on behalf of the United States, or any prohibited place within the meaning of section six of this title; or
(b) whoever for the purpose aforesaid, and with like intent or reason to believe, copies, takes, makes, or obtains, or attempts, or induces or aids another to copy, take, make, or obtain, any sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blue print, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, document, writing or note of anything connected with the national defence; or
(c) whoever, for the purpose aforesaid, receives or obtains or agrees or attempts or induces or aids another to receive or obtain from any other person, or from any source whatever, any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blue print, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note, of anything connected with the national defence, knowing or having reason to believe, at the time he receives or obtains, or agrees or attempts or induces or aids another to receive or obtain it, that it has been or will be obtained, taken, made or disposed of by any person contrary to the provisions of this title; or
(d) whoever, lawfully or unlawfully having possession of, access to, control over, or being entrusted with any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blue print, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defence, wilfully communicates or transmits or attempts to communicate or transmit the same and fails to deliver it on demand to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it; or
(e) whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blue print, plan, map, model, note, or information, relating to the national defence, through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be list, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000, or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.
Section 2
Whoever, with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury or the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation, communicated, delivers, or transmits, or attempts to, or aids, or induces another to, communicate, deliver or transmit, to any foreign government, or to any faction or party or military or naval force within a foreign country, whether recognized or unrecognized by the United States, or to any representative, officer, agent, employee, subject, or citizen thereof, either directly or indirectly and document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blue print, plan, map, model, note, instrument, appliance, or information relating to the national defence, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than twenty years: Provided, That whoever shall violate the provisions of subsection:
(a) of this section in time of war shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for not more than thirty years; and
(b) whoever, in time of war, with intent that the same shall be communicated to the enemy, shall collect, record, publish or communicate, or attempt to elicit any information with respect to the movement, numbers, description, condition, or disposition of any of the armed forces, ships, aircraft, or war materials of the United States, or with respect to the plans or conduct, or supposed plans or conduct of any naval of military operations, or with respect to any works or measures undertaken for or connected with, or intended for the fortification of any place, or any other information relating to the public defence, which might be useful to the enemy, shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for not more than thirty years.
Section 3
Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall wilfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies and whoever when the United States is at war, shall wilfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall wilfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, to the injury of the service or of the United States, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both.
Section 4
If two or more persons conspire to violate the provisions of section two or three of this title, and one or more of such persons does any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy shall be punished as in said sections provided in the case of the doing of the act the accomplishment of which is the object of such conspiracy. Except as above provided conspiracies to commit offences under this title shall be punished as provided by section thirty-seven of the Act to codify, revise, and amend the penal laws of the United States approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and nine.
Section 5
Whoever harbours or conceals any person who he knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe or suspect, has committed, or is about to commit, an offence under this title shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.
Section 6
The President in time of war or in case of national emergency may by proclamation designate any place other than those set forth in subsection:
(a) of section one hereof in which anything for the use of the Army or Navy is being prepared or constructed or stored as a prohibited place for the purpose of this title: Provided, That he shall determine that information with respect thereto would be prejudicial to the national defence.
Section 7
Nothing contained in this title shall be deemed to limit the jurisdiction of the general courts-martial, military commissions, or naval courts-martial under sections thirteen hundred and forty-two, thirteen hundred and forty-three, and sixteen hundred and twenty-four of the Revised Statutes as amended.
Section 8
The provisions of this title shall extend to all Territories, possessions, and places subject to the jurisdiction of the United States whether or not contiguous thereto, and offences under this title, when committed upon the high seas or elsewhere within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States and outside the territorial limits thereof shall be punishable hereunder.
Section 9
The Act entitles "An Act to prevent the disclosure of national defence secrets," approved March third, nineteen hundred and eleven, is hereby repealed.
ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)Good call on that.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)You know that some African American scholars feel Sanger had some rather problematic racial beliefs, correct?
Thankfully, Planned Parenthood is not named after her, but if they recognize her as a founder of some sort, should we not "discuss" it?
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)Does Cain's dumbed-down for whack-job Republicans demonizing of Sanger mean Davis's analysis is illegitimate?
I'm sure the right would love to see Wilson's named stripped and tarnished, being that he was considered a progressive Democratic hero by many, a different cause but the same end for what the protesters in the OP want.
no_hypocrisy
(46,070 posts)Should Washington and Lee in Virginia change its name and charter because the college was named after its first president who was both its first president and one of the highest academic at West Point?
Should the names of ALL racists be erased from public institutions or should they remain to inspire debate and discussion?
Response to alp227 (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
erpowers
(9,350 posts)I hope they do not remove his name from the School of Public and international Affairs. First, President Wilson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University. Second, he served as President of Princeton University. Third, he served as President of the United States of America. While President, he proposed the idea of the League of Nations. Due to his contribution to the world and his status as a Princeton alumni he deserves to have a building named after him and a painting of him at the school.
Blasphemer
(3,261 posts)The fact is that his active racism should have disqualified him from having a major school named after him. The fact that it did not, and that it was not changed during the civil rights movement, is the most telling part of this entire story. This is not like some 200 year old institution. It had no specific name for 18 years. In 1948 it was named after him. Changing it in the early 60s would have made sense. Of course now, it's been 60+ years and people can argue "tradition." I don't think he needs to be erased from the university entirely, but given that he sought to deny black students entry to the school, I think having a flagship school named after him is pretty abhorrent.
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)...because they hurt someone's feelings is one of the most idiotic and ultimately counterproductive and harmful things I've ever heard of. This insanity needs to stop.
Wilson was a racist? Yep...so teach that, along with his accomplishments. That is how you teach not only the history itself, but the insanely important life lesson that human beings can be extremely complex and contradictory.
7962
(11,841 posts)adir
(33 posts)Many progressives supported the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue at the University of Texas. What's the difference between this and removing Wilson's name from some buildings? Is it that Davis was worse than Wilson (owned slaves, led a rebellion against the US, etc.)? But Wilson was no saint, either. Consider how he misled the public about World War I. How do you draw a line here?
Hestia
(3,818 posts)Though you wouldn't think it, the second and third parts of this book are about WWI and W Wilson. (First is about John Hopkins, last is about modern responses to flu.)
The Great Influenza
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Influenza-Deadliest-Pandemic-History/dp/0143036491/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448406979&sr=8-1&keywords=the+great+influenza
I agree that the time to have taken his name off of the building and dismantling the mural should have been 60 years ago. Right now (not saying in the future) all it is doing is dividing people and getting them to take sides. Instead of demands, why can't this rationally be discussed? Massive op/eds in the student newspaper? Keep biting them on the ankles from behind instead of shouting in their faces.
Had no idea about his racism & resegregating the federal government.
MFrohike
(1,980 posts)Feed the hungry, join the Fight for 15, protest against police violence? Nah, let's act like entitled Ivy Leaguers and complain about the name on part of our school. After all, that's what matters in our daily reality, not what happens to other people.
They're probably earnest and well-meaning, but, as Future Leaders of America (TM), maybe they should think about doing something useful for people who aren't entitled Ivy Leaguers.
