Sunday, Nov. 16,2008 8:19 p.m.
In a highly anticipated and deliberated decision, the All University
Committee on Names is recommending that the Ora L. Wildermuth
Intramural Center be renamed the William L. Garrett/Ora L. Wildermuth
Fieldhouse.
Largely an exercise in semantics, the name proposal honors William
Garrett, the first black basketball player at IU, while retaining
recognition for Wildermuth, a former IU trustee who espoused
segregationist views.
The Committee’s recommendation to the Board of Trustees will also
include the creation of an annual “signature series” lecture and a
conference that focuses on the name change.
Given the intense coverage generated by Wildermuth’s racist views, the
Committee’s decision strikes us as an act of cowardice, an act that
seeks to placate all sides without addressing the real concerns here.
While administrators might have us believe that the juxtaposition of
names serves as an educational opportunity, it only helps cheapen and
degrade William Garrett’s legacy, one that deserves its own
recognition.