The Board of Trustees has decided wrongly in our opinion. We feel that this is just kicking the can down the road. The name will have to change sooner than they think, or the University will wither.
We still won one three out of four of our requests. Most importantly, for symbolism, Lee will be excised from the University chapel, and portraits will no longer appear on diplomas.
We won all the down ticket requests. Lee remains only in the name. First, his portrait will no longer appear on any diploma. Second, Lee Chapel will be now be University Chapel.
Most importantly, the Board committed to all the Diversity, Inclusion, and Equality efforts outlined in the strategic plan, which is more important in the long run than the name. This one is huge folks.
Space Mountain has been removed from Confederate Disneyland.
But they have to live with it in the real world, and they were some of the fiercest and most fearless advocates for change amongst us.
We must stay connected to their needs and concerns, providing help and support in any way that makes sense. They are simply looking for the best education that they can get with sometimes limited resources.
Listen to them and their concerns. They will often know developments before we do.
While the justification of their decision used mental gymnastics that would impress Simone Biles, it also included a lot of what asked: 1. Committing to a more diverse board, 2. aligning to their own strategic diversity, equality, and inclusion goals, and 3. accelerating these things across the board.
We must commit to supporting these initiatives because they will have just as much impact on positive student experiences in the long run.
If, the name Lee does not define the University, what does the University stand for. What is its vision, what is its promise,.
If the University doesn’t provide some guidance, the market will continue to speak and the worst lots of our society will continue to attach themselves to what still remains as the largest Confederate memorial in the United States.
We must hold them their feet to the fire on this.
Not Unmindful commits to continue our work, so this site will live on as the base of a platform for collective action. We truly believe that those that were undecided during this very public process can still be convinced to join us in holding to the board accountable.
Thus, we will continue to recruit interested parties. We commit to bringing them into the fold. We are a pretty welcoming and diverse lot after all!
In the lead up to the decision, we consciously decided to be polite and abide by their rules. This site’s purpose was to highlight our position as a credible one arrived at with love and concern for the University at its heart.
The last year has shown us the wisdom, and the folly, of this approach. The gloves are now off. We are doing playing by their rules. We are done playing nice!
We are Not Unmindful of the future. We are not alone. And We are Not Going Away!
The latest article from The Business Journals (paywall alert) reports on the general feeling amongst the different groups of alumni on either side of the question.
From PBS: C.J. Hunt discusses the POV documentary, “The Neutral Ground,” which explores the burning issues of Confederate statues. The documentary begins airings on PBS on July 4.
In the New York Times on July 3, Caroline Randall Williams discusses her essay that puts Black Southerners like her squarely at the heart of the debate.
While focused on Memphis primarily, this article from MLK50* has ramifications for the entire south and, upon a bit of extrapolation, implications about the future of the University.The following excerpt frames the article nicely.
Benjamin Wallace-Wells, writing in the New Yorker, ponders politics and culture after the lost cause in. a review article about Client Smith’s “How the Word Is Passed,” began just a few months after the white-nationalist uprising at Charlottesville.
Update: WSLS also has the story up now. This provides a bit more detail than the article linked below.
The Miami Herald runs an op-ed by Justin McFarlin, “This Juneteenth, erase Robert E. Lee’s name, but not his history as this nation’s enemy.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education puts the name decision in the context of a larger assault on black academics nationwide.
Not Unmindful’s own Brandon Hasbrouck, an assistant professor of law at the School of Law, writes for Slate. Professor Habrouck opens the article with a brief summation of history, unadulterated and not wrapped in any mythmaking before getting to the main point of the article, as the title summarizes.
In an op-ed in the Washington Post in reaction to the announcement by the board of trustees, Colbert I. King lays out the answer to this question very clearly.
The Chronicle of Higher Education poses this question in an article by Sarah Brown talking about our situation along side that of Dixie State University in Utah…
The name change decision Building and symbol changes Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) changes An…
In a piece in the Roanoke Times, 2007 alumnus, Mike Rennard reacts to the decision.
In a letter to the editor in the Richmond Times Dispatch, Bill Melton, ’74U (and member of Not Unmindful) poses this very question. Lots of good stuff here.
Here is the Washington Post’s article on the announcement (First out of the gate). It is followed by that of the New York Times
The website Best Colleges joins the growing list of those that are paying attention to what is about to happen—or not happen—in Lexington this month.
As we approach the Board of Trustees decisions, the timing and substance of which is unknown to any of us, the Alumni Board hopes that alumni will consider joining us to embrace these aspirational principles:
Lee’s name is a barrier to other major objectives the trustees have established: to increase numbers of minority students and members of the faculty, to make admissions to the university “need blind,” and to improve the total atmosphere of the college to emphasize honor, civility, and service.
A much more balanced view of the debate, giving Not Unmindful as much or more column space the those on the other side.
Confederate history is family history, history as eulogy, in which loyalty takes precedence over truth.
The University community just received the following email from Rector Mike McAlevey ’86: We expect…
