The following comes from a May 16 news release from Stanford University:
The Stanford committee working to establish principles for reconsidering and renaming such campus landmarks as streets and buildings is inviting members of the university community to offer their suggestions about criteria that ought to be considered.
Feedback can be submitted to the committee through its webpage until Monday, June 6.
The eight-person committee, composed of faculty and students and chaired by historian David Kennedy, has already begun meeting and has made progress in refining the committee’s charge and reviewing case studies from other colleges and universities.
Kennedy said everyone asked to join the committee agreed, which, he said, “tells us something about the seriousness with which they take this issue and how conscientiously they will work on it.”
In studying other colleges and universities, committee members discovered how vital community outreach is to their proceedings, according to Laura Jones, university archeologist and director of heritage services, who staffs the group.
The committee was formed in March by President John Hennessy and Provost John Etchemendy to establish principles for considering the renaming of campus streets and buildings in light of concerns raised by students about landmarks named for Junipero Serra. Serra was a Roman Catholic Spanish priest who founded the mission network in California. Although considered a saint by the Catholic Church, Serra’s treatment of Native Americans has come under scrutiny in recent years. Among the streets and buildings that bear the Serra name are Serra Mall, which fronts the Main Quadrangle; Serra House, home to the Clayman Institute for Gender Research; and Serra, an undergraduate residence within Stern Hall.
Anti-Catholic prejudice….isn’t it lovely!
Secular Stanford has had one foot in the abyss for a long time. Looks like they’re about to complete the descent.
Fr. Joseph Chinicci, OFM, of Mission San Luis Rey gave an excellent presentation on Fr. Serra who saved native Americans from the Spanish forces which were forcing them to live in the Haciendas as servants with various abuses and no real concern for their well being. St. Junipero offered them the truth of faith, a mission life of living in community, protection from the Spanish conquistadores. If a real, competent historian were chairing this committee, he would present the truth of the times and Fr. Serra’s contribution.
And of course not ONE bishop from that “wonderful” state stands up and says YOU WILL NOT CHANGE ANY NAME!! 50 years ago before Vatican II you would have had an outcry from lay people and the bishops who were REAL MEN back then.
Exactly Janek!
Dare anyone say that Vatican II is at the root of the rot?
presumably not everyone at Stanford can be ignorant of the facts of history alluded to by Fr. Perozich. therefore the re-naming can be ascribed to anti-Catholic bigotry. what’s new? From another perspective, maybe it’s better this way. Why should the good name of (Saint) Padre Serra be besmirched by an unfortunate affiliation with “the Farm?”
Janek- the power and influence of the Church in secular society has been severely eroded by all of the scandals in the Church as well as the increasing secularization of American society. The Bishops have very little and limited influence now.
The irony of the “scandals” is that they’ve been 85% homosexual, while society has seemingly turned pro-homosexual. So logically, society should be lauding the “scandals” as nothing more than free love liaisons. You know, in the vein of Allen Ginsburg and the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). Apparently, though, expecting logic here is too much to ask.
The data in the John Jay report shows the “scandals” to be 85% homosexual as you say. Then the USCCB spent $1.8 million to scrub the data and say, oh no, it was NOT homosexual but pedophile. My local bishop was so excited about the scrubbing that he published a big article about it in his diocesan paper. The Catholic League website has a piece which goes after the USCCB scrubbing of the data.
Don’t these people have anything better to do…..like studying……like teaching?
Elizabeth (May 17, 2016 at 7:51pm)
Apparently not – remember, they are “elite.”
Constantinople to Istanbul….. Names have meaning and when they are changed they reflect inner conversion. Abram to Abraham reflected his covenant with God, the aforementioned the conquest of Islam. If we change the name of our buildings and statues from Saints to secular icons what do we reflect?
Let’s disabuse ourselves of the Walt Disney noble savage. Indians were a Stone Age culture when first encountered: Lack of a moral code; incessant warfare; enslaved to dreams, superstitions, and sorcery; etc. Fierce warriors who’d make ISIS look like campfire girls.
Without Spanish troops Serra might’ve ended up like the North American Martyrs–Isaac Jogues, Rene Goupil, Jean de Brebeuf, Gabriel Lalemant et alia–who endured unspeakable tortures and mutilations before death, and in the case of Brebeuf and Lalemant, partially cannibalized whilst still alive, then hearts torn out and eaten.
Junipero’s detractors–Them speakum with forked tongue.