College removes ex-president's name from library after release of 122-page report on race relations
Wheaton's Board of Trustees released a report on Sept. 14 detailing “the history and legacy of Wheaton College from 1860-2000 with respect to race relations.”
One result from the study is the removal of former President J. Oliver Buswell’s name from a campus library due to his failure to have “a more expansive vision of racial equality.”
An evangelical Christian college in Illinois is the latest school to denounce its own history for alleged racial discrimination.
Commissioned by the Wheaton College Board of Trustees, the Historical Review Task Force (HRTF) released a 122-page report on Sept. 14 detailing “the history and legacy of Wheaton College from 1860-2000 with respect to race relations.”
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One of the stated purposes of the review is, “To determine—in view of the supremacy of Jesus Christ—what aspects of history need to be celebrated more intentionally, lamented more deeply, or repented of more specifically.”
One result from this study is the removal of former President J. Oliver Buswell’s name from a campus library due to his failure to have “a more expansive vision of racial equality.” The report also accuses him of reversing Wheaton’s “previously more enlightened” admissions policies regarding minority students.
The HRTF also laments the “anti-biblical condemnation of inter-racial relationships that affected policy and decision-making surrounding admissions, housing practices, and marriage approvals.”
”Receiving this report with loving hearts and open minds will help us fulfill our biblical, covenantal commitment to pursue Christian unity and embrace ethnic diversity as God’s enduring, redemptive purposes for us in Jesus Christ,” the Wheaton Board of Trustees said in a press release. “We pray that our commitments reflect our obedience to Christ and love for one another.”
In a message to Campus Reform, Wheaton’s Chief Marketing Communications Officer Joe Moore said, “We were guided by Scripture, which calls us to treat others with dignity and charity. We believe it is God-honoring to learn from the past, lament mistakes that have hurt others, and then resolve to improve.”
Moore also indicated that the removal of President Buswell’s name from the library will be beneficial for the Wheaton community moving forward.
“We will continue to recognize President Buswell’s contributions through our institutional histories, archives, and online as one of just eight presidents to have led this institution since 1860,” he told Campus Reform. “However, it is proven that he prevented students from attending Wheaton simply because they were black. Continuing to name our primary center of campus scholarship for him distracts from our commitment to Christ-centered hospitality for students from every ethnic background.”
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Wheaton College student Dolan Bair does not feel the report is helpful, nor does it strengthen the campus community. “In past years, we have heard liberal messages during our chapels that would put this Historical Review to shame,” he said. “The campus felt very divided at that time.”
“Rehashing centuries-old conversations creates more division than unity,” Bair continued. “Some of the student body feels that this report didn’t go far enough,” he added. He believes that the school “has managed to alienate the right, some of the left, and much of the center as well.”
In regards to Buswell’s name being removed from the library, Bair said that is not solving any issues. “We will rename our library, sure, but it’s hard to see how that will end racism.”
