Princeton student protest: Woodrow Wilson

[StLucieBengal]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/11/19/princeton-university-students-want-woodrow-wilson-name-removed-from-programs/

Nice to see someone is checking this guy out.

Quote:PRINCETON, N.J. – Students staged a protest Wednesday inside the office of Princeton University's president, demanding the school remove the name of former school president and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson from programs and buildings over what they said was his racist legacy.

Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber told the students he agreed with them that Wilson was racist and that the university needs to acknowledge that, according to a video posted to YouTube. But a school spokesman said the president also told students it is important to weigh Wilson's racism, and how bad it was, with the contributions he made to the nation.

Wilson was president of Princeton from 1902 to 1910 and served as New Jersey's governor from 1911 to 1913, when he entered the White House. The Democrat was a leading progressive but supported segregation, including appointing Cabinet members who segregated federal departments.

About 30 black and white students, from a group called the Black Justice League, took part in the protest, demanding a range of changes to improve the social and academic experience of black students. Scores of other students joined in the protest outside the building.

Princeton is home to the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs, his name is on one of the school's residential colleges and there is a mural of Wilson in a dining hall that the protesters want removed.

"Having to walk by buildings that (have Wilson's name), having to walk by his mural, having to live in residential colleges that didn't want our presence on campus, that's marginalizing," said Asanni York, a black junior who is majoring in public policy. "People are hurt by that. All this matters because, at the end of the day, black people's feelings matter just as much as any other people's feelings matter."

The protesters also want the Ivy League university to institute cultural competency training for staff and faculty, and add a cultural space on campus dedicated to black students.

Princeton spokesman Martin Mbugua said Eisgruber and Dean of College Jill Dolan spent about an hour talking with the students and "expect the conversation to continue beyond today's meeting."

The protest comes as students at colleges across the country rally over race and other social issues and on the same day that Princeton announced it was ending the "master" title for leaders of the six residential colleges where students live on campus. The faculty members will now be known as "head of the college."

In August, a professor at Yale University cited the racial overtones of the word in asking students to stop calling him "master."

Dolan said Princeton's faculty members have been discussing changing the title for years.

"Many of us who would never have been part of the Princeton experience ... often feel our own exclusion," she said. "Faculty and administrators prioritize inclusion and belonging, (from the) iconography of campus, to curriculum ... in terms of making sure we represent the diversity of human experience."

Dolan, who oversees Princeton's residential colleges, said groups across campus are having discussions about Wilson's place at the school.

It's a "conversation people are having all over the campus, in part because it's part of the national conversation. There are no easy answers here," she said. "It's a conversation we all need to have about the implications of history."

William Keylor, professor of international relations at the Pardee School of Boston University, said Wilson, who was born in Virginia, brought Southern values and opinions to the White House and allowed for the reinstatement of segregation in a city that had been desegregated.

"We should recognize that racial aspect of his behavior, of his administration and certainly not deny it or sweep it under the rug, but at the same time we have to recognize that he was a very effective reformer, domestically ... and he was a champion of self-determination abroad," Keylor said. "We have to treat him as a human being with these flaws, but also recognizing his great contributions to American history."

[Benton]

Quote:About 30 black and white students, from a group called the Black Justice League, took part in the protest, demanding a range of changes to improve the social and academic experience of black students. Scores of other students joined in the protest outside the building.

Black Vulcan returns!

[Rotobeast]

(11-19-2015, 12:49 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/11/19/princeton-university-students-want-woodrow-wilson-name-removed-from-programs/

Nice to see someone is checking this guy out.  

Well.... I wanted to play basketball at Grambling.
:snark:

[StLucieBengal]

(11-19-2015, 07:18 PM)Rotobeast Wrote: Well.... I wanted to play basketball at Grambling.
:snark:

You were already too busy playing football

[fredtoast]

This is a bit of a slippery slope.

I mean many of the founders on this nation were slaveholders.

[StLucieBengal]

(11-20-2015, 12:18 PM)fredtoast Wrote: This is a bit of a slippery slope.

I mean many of the founders on this nation were slaveholders.

Being a member of the KKK is not quite the same as being a slave holder when that was the way of life. Heck Woodrow Wilson wrote the script for birth of a nation, the KKK recruitment film, and even debut the film in the White House. Which btw his White House was a whites only White House.

Not even close to owning slaves.

[GMDino]

(11-20-2015, 01:39 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Being a member of the KKK is not quite the same as being a slave holder when that was the way of life.    Heck Woodrow Wilson wrote the script for birth of a nation, the KKK recruitment film, and even debut the film in the White House.     Which btw his White House was a whites only White House.  

Not even close to owning slaves.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004972/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_wr#writers

[/url]

Quote:The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Full Cast & Crew
Directed by 
D.W. Griffith

Writing Credits  


Thomas Dixon Jr.
...
(adapted from his novel: "The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan") (as Thomas F. Dixon Jr.)
 
Thomas Dixon Jr.
...
(play "The Clansman") (as Thomas F. Dixon Jr.) and
Thomas Dixon Jr.
...
(novel "The Leopard's Spots") (as Thomas F. Dixon Jr.)
 
D.W. Griffith

Frank E. Woods

[url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0940604/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr5]

[StLucieBengal]

(11-20-2015, 01:43 PM)GMDino Wrote: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004972/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_wr#writers

[/url]
[url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0940604/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr5]

Wilson scholarly writings were a central part of the film.   So despite not getting writers credit he contributed quite a bit of his own personal beliefs.    

Calling him a writer was not correct but his writings and works were a major part of the film .

Glad we could clarify that ....

Quote:he screened The Birth of a Nation for the president on February 18, 1915 (the first film, in fact, ever to be screened in the White House).  The film’s power and message reportedly overwhelmed Wilson, no doubt in part because his own scholarly writings figured so centrally in the film’s historical interpretation.

[GMDino]

(11-20-2015, 03:06 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Wilson scholarly writings were a central part of the film.   So despite not getting writers credit he contributed quite a bit of his own personal beliefs.    

Calling him a writer was not correct but his writings and works were a major part of the film .

Glad we could clarify that ....  

First: provide a link to your quote.  I found it easily enough, but its good form.

Second:  Yes, Griffith put some placards in the beginning of the film that were quotes from Wilson's book (published a decade before becoming President).

Third: Later ( a decade AFTER the film) Wilson even admitted the KKK was vile:

http://www.slideshare.net/timothyjgraham/lynching-31950429

But I've found that you think if you just make sweeping generalizations it seems less like you are lying...

[StLucieBengal]

(11-20-2015, 03:33 PM)GMDino Wrote: First: provide a link to your quote.  I found it easily enough, but its good form.

Second:  Yes, Griffith put some placards in the beginning of the film that were quotes from Wilson's book (published a decade before becoming President).

Third: Later ( a decade AFTER the film) Wilson even admitted the KKK was vile:

http://www.slideshare.net/timothyjgraham/lynching-31950429

But I've found that you think if you just make sweeping generalizations it seems less like you are lying...

http://chnm.gmu.edu/episodes/the-birth-of-a-nation-and-black-protest/

Of all the things to defend this clown on....   This isn't one of them.   He was an actual hardcore racist.    What he says a decade later is irrelevant since he is only trying to fix his legacy after the fact.

It was the highest grossing movie until gone with the wind. And was partly due to his support of the film despite the republicans and the naacp protesting the film throughout .

[GMDino]

(11-20-2015, 03:49 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: http://chnm.gmu.edu/episodes/the-birth-of-a-nation-and-black-protest/

Of all the things to defend this clown on....   This isn't one of them.   He was an actual hardcore racist.    What he says a decade later is irrelevant since he is only trying to fix his legacy after the fact.

Not defending or denying what he wrote.

But saying the film was written by and / or based on his writing is more than a stretch.

[StLucieBengal]

(11-20-2015, 03:53 PM)GMDino Wrote: Not defending or denying what he wrote.

But saying the film was written but and / or based on his writing is more than a stretch.

Based on this scholarly writings is pretty accurate. Plus given his relationship with the films creators.

Saying he was a writer was a mistake but his finger prints are all over this thing.

[StLucieBengal]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/princeton-university-agrees-weigh-erasing-woodrow-wilsons-name-n466796

Holy cow Princeton caves.

Quote:Princeton University's president, under pressure from African American student activists, said Thursday night that the school would begin a process to consider expunging the legacy of former President Woodrow Wilson from campus.

The agreement — signed by Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber — ended a 32-hour sit-in at the president's office.

Students with the Black Justice League entered Nassau Hall around noon Wednesday, calling for the Ivy League university to acknowledge racism within Wilson's legacy and take actions to improve cultural sensitivity on campus.

The agreement comes as black students across the country have been rallying for improved race relations on college campuses, including a national day of protest Wednesday under the hashtag #StudentBlackOut.

Members of BJL who were on the outside have been let back in. #OccupyNassau pic.twitter.com/htD8nSKdV1
— joey (@j_anyanwu) November 19, 2015
Wilson, a Southern Democrat who served as Princeton's president from 1902-1910, allowed his cabinet to re-segregate federal government departments and also forced civil servant applicants to include photographs, considered by African Americans at the time as a move to weed them out.

"We appreciate the willingness of the students to work with us to find a way forward for them, for us and for our community," Eisgruber said. "We were able to assure them that their concerns would be raised and considered through appropriate processes."

Students activists emerge from the President's office. #OccupyNassau pic.twitter.com/HycSGxRw2I
— joey (@j_anyanwu) November 20, 2015
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Eisgruber and two other Princeton leaders, Dean Jill Dolan and Vice President for Campus Life Rochelle Calhoun, agreed to a number of actions including a request to Princeton's board of trustees about removing Wilson's name from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, as well as to survey students about removing the name.

The university leaders also agreed to initiate a request for the removal of a mural of Wilson from a school dining hall, to enhance cultural sensitivity training for faculty and to establish rooms on campus for "cultural affinity groups."

The students also secured immunity for those who occupied the president's office.

Following news of the agreement, the university notified students via email that a "non-specific bomb and firearm threat" had been made in reference to the student protest.