University of Cincinnati May Erase Benefactor Over Slavery Connection
“the administration has their work cut out for them”
The school could simply take ownership of this, admit it and make an appropriate gesture. Instead, they are looking at removing it from the record.
The Washington Examiner reports:
History by mob rule: University of Cincinnati considers expunging benefactor’s contribution to its own legacy
On Dec. 10, a campus-wide email was sent out from school President Neville Pinto announcing a “Special Commission to Study McMicken.” The man under the microscope is Charles McMicken, founding benefactor of the university. The email stated the administration was “establishing a special university-wide commission to examine the life and legacy of Charles McMicken and the use of his name at the University of Cincinnati.”
McMicken, whom the Arts and Sciences College is named after, donated roughly $1 million in real estate to the city of Cincinnati to launch its own public university in 1858. The institution was, in his own words, to educate “white boys and girls.” That, coupled with his ownership of slaves, is the source of the recent criticism — which may culminate in the removal of the McMicken name from any mention at the University of Cincinnati.
If this is done, which, if recent trends are any indication, is likely, then the administration has their work cut out for them.
Not only is the school’s McMicken College of Arts and Sciences named after him, but so is a donor recognition society and the commons in the center of campus. It’s even mentioned in the university’s alma mater: “None nobler teachings did instill, than old McMicken on the hill.” Purging the university of the McMicken name is no small feat. Even if it is accomplished, the name will still live on a block away from the campus in one of the most trafficked streets in the area.
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