Wildermuth name to stay

Even while students were resting at home this winter break, IU’s All University Committee on Names reaffirmed its previous recommendation to keep “Wildermuth” in the name of the intramural center.

Retaining the name of the prominent IU board member and avowed racist caused controversy, even when the name of IU’s first black basketball player, William L. Garrett, was proposed to be added along with Wildermuth’s.

The editorial board has previously opposed propositions to retain Wildermuth’s name on the building, whether alone or with Garrett’s. But the reaffirmation of that position is not the extent of our disappointment with this most recent development.

The fact that the decision was made over break, when students were least likely to notice, highlights the discrepancy between the All University Committee’s name and its actual “all university” composition: Students were not included in this decision.

Students were not represented in the panel decision made by 25 faculty and academic staff members. We were not asked whether it made us proud to pay tuition to and receive diplomas from an institution that retains the name of a man who wrote that blacks were less intellectually capable of receiving those degrees than their white counterparts. Most insultingly, we were denied even the advantage of being on campus to raise our voices in support or condemnation of the most recent decision.

For a body attempting to find a name that satisfies the needs of a 21st century academic institution, the All University Committee on Names would do well to include students’ perspectives when so many of the facility’s primary users – students – might very well object to perpetuating racism’s ugly legacy.