Herbert: Mural should stay

The controversial panel of the Thomas H. Benton Mural in Woodburn Hall should stay where it is because it helps to make sure the tragedies of racism will not be forgotten, said IU President Adam Herbert in an interview earlier this month. This is the first time Herbert has publicly taken a position on the Benton Mural as the president of IU.\n"As a black man who lived through the segregated realities of the South, I think it is important that there be a reminder of what we had to live through -- the pain, the suffering, the fear," Herbert said of the painting, a portion of which depicts Ku Klux Klan members and a burning cross.\nThe mural came under scrutiny again when the Rev. Al Sharpton, a 2004 candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, said the mural should be moved from the classroom, where it currently hangs, to a museum after he viewed it following his April 21 speech at IU. Junior Derren Chapman prompted Sharpton's comments when he asked for the civil rights leader's help in removing the mural during the question-and-answer section of Sharpton's speech. After looking at the panel for approximately five minutes in Woodburn Hall room 100, Sharpton announced to a waiting crowd that the painting was "offensive" and said he would do whatever he could get it moved.\nChapman could not be reached for comment by press time.\nHerbert said he "definitely differed" with Sharpton's comments that the painting should be moved to a museum. He likened the need to keep the mural to the Jewish community's desire to open holocaust museums following the massacre of millions by Nazi Germany.\n"I don't want you to grow up not understanding that black people were lynched in the country," he said. "I don't want you to grow up not being aware of the torture that young black children and adults suffered at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan."\nSharpton's criticism of the panel -- one of two in Woodburn Hall room 100 -- is only the most recent controversy surrounding the painting. In 2002, members of the Black Student Union protested the mural's place in the Woodburn classroom. That protest prompted then-IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm to announce a number of changes to promote understanding of the painting and diversity around campus. Brehm earmarked $800,000 for hiring minority and female faculty. She also mandated that all incoming freshmen and all students who have a class in Woodburn 100 would view an informational video explaining the mural.\nThough the depiction of Klansmen has gotten more attention in recent years than the rest of the mural combined, the controversial section is only a small part of the 12-foot-tall panel. According to the plaque placed next to the mural, the section is meant to portray the economic and social advancement and progression of Indiana. The most prominent aspect of the panel is the depiction of the Indiana's transition from a farm-based to an industrial economy.