A missed opportunity

After nearly two years of deliberation, the IU board of trustees decided to rename the Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center.

However, the trustees’ decision failed to remove Wildermuth from the center’s name. It will become the “William L. Garrett-Ora. L. Wildermuth Intramural Center.”

The Editorial Board remains convinced this opportunity should have been used to remove Wildermuth’s legacy of racism from the IU campus.

Many reasonable people take issue with this view, suggesting that Wildermuth cannot be demonized for his views. During his time, they were commonly held in Indiana and across the country.

However, this view downplays the fact that Wildermuth wasn’t discovered to be a closet racist after his death. Rather, he used his trustee position to lobby former IU President Herman B Wells to adopt his views as University policy.

Specifically, he was vehement that people of color possessed lesser intellectual capacities and that the races remain segregated.

Failing to satisfactorily address the Wildermuth issue now suggests we will have to confront a painful legacy of racism again in the future.