Administrators react to IDS column

Both students and University administrators expressed disappointment Tuesday in response to a provocative Indiana Daily Student column charging former IU leaders with naming one of its buildings after a segregationist.\nThe article, written by IDS columnist Andrew Shaffer, revealed that Ora L. Wildermuth, a former president of the IU trustees, expressed his racist views of blacks in letters to former IU President Herman B Wells. Shaffer’s column, published Tuesday, demanded the University consider renaming the Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center, located within the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation building. \n“There should be a discussion before the destruction of this sign,” Shaffer wrote in reference to the nameplate outside the building. “But there must be a change. There has to be a change.”\nShaffer’s column examined letters between Wildermuth and Wells. These letters, in both Shaffer’s and some administrators’ minds, proved the trustee was a racist. \n“I have no objection to affording colored people every opportunity possible for their own intellectual and cultural advancement as well their economic betterment,” Wildermuth wrote in a letter. “But I am and shall always remain absolutely and utterly opposed to social intermingling of the colored race with the white.”\nBased on initial University response, that change may be well within the realm of possibility. President Adam Herbert released a statement Tuesday afternoon expressing his concern. \n“I am disappointed, but not surprised, that such views were promulgated by a leading Indiana citizen at that point in history,” Herbert said in the statement. \nIn an earlier version of the release, Herbert said he had already asked Interim Provost and president-elect Michael McRobbie to\ninitiate a dialogue about the issue with the board of trustees. However, the statement’s latest version did not speak of any specific initiative, but suggested a dialogue could \nhelp leaders decide how to best handle the situation. \nContrasting Herbert, IU Dean of Students Dick McKaig expressed surprise at the racist revelations. Although he agreed that a discriminating society dictated many people’s views during Wildermuth’s era, he said the trustee held opinions beyond the typical population.\n“You can’t believe they were the mainstream views in that era either,” he said “That seems to be a more strident view than I would have thought the majority would have taken.”\nMcKaig did not defend the longtime IU servant. \n“There are mistakes, and then there are views that are not very consistent with what you would call the core values of the University,” McKaig said. \nHe went as far as to say renaming the building would be a “worthwhile step,” but the decision would not be left to him, he said. \nThe process of naming buildings is left to an on-campus committee, McKaig said. Following the committee’s recommendations, the trustees must approve.\nAs of 8 p.m. Tuesday, an unscientific poll on idsnews.com found that 65 percent of the 338 votes cast desired the building’s name changed. \nSeveral students interviewed Tuesday seemed to parallel the poll’s results.\n“It’s an important issue, because for IU they are practically endorsing racism by keeping the building as this name,” said junior Wes Alford. Although he did not expect a large student outcry as a result, Alford said he thought IU administrators would commit attention to the situation because it “would look bad on the University” if they did not.\n“Now that it’s out there,” Alford said, “you have to take action.”