The Winthrop family owned slaves, so these students want the name canceled. Once again, I can’t help but notice that no one is calling for Yale to be renamed.
The College Fix reports:
Harvard students demand Winthrop House be renamed, call name ‘harmful’A group of student activists at Harvard University are calling for the school’s Winthrop House to be renamed, launching a petition and holding a protest in recent weeks to lobby campus leaders to comply with their demands.Winthrop House, one of 12 residential houses for undergrads at Harvard, is named after both the elder John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and his great, great grandson, John Winthrop, a former Harvard president from the 1770s who is also considered the first American astronomer.They both owned slaves, and student protesters argue that because they supported slavery their name should be wiped from campus.According to a petition launched by the activists, the two were “instrumental in creating, maintaining, and defending” slavery, the Harvard Crimson reported Feb. 23.The petition argues the two Winthrops’ values “are entirely antithetical to the current mission of Harvard College, creating a harmful environment that undermines the ability of our community to participate in the work of the University.”Harvard University’s media affairs department declined to comment when asked by The College Fix on the future of the Winthrop House name.Meanwhile, Harvard students also protested in the dining hall during dinner to advance their cause, the Crimson reported Feb. 27.Student Clyve Lawerence, who is helping to lead the charge to change the name, gave a speech focusing on the histories of the two Winthrops and their ties to slavery as students ate their food, the Crimson reported.The petition is led by two student organizations, the Generational African American Students Association of Harvard and Natives at Harvard College, who say they feel that the namesakes of Winthrop House represent ideas and actions that would be “abhorrent today.”
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