{"id":124110,"date":"2023-03-14T00:17:59","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T04:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=124110"},"modified":"2023-03-14T00:18:11","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T04:18:11","slug":"uc-berkeley-strips-another-name-off-building-but-activists-want-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/uc-berkeley-strips-another-name-off-building-but-activists-want-more\/","title":{"rendered":"UC Berkeley strips another name off building but activists want more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Historian criticizes use of ‘present values’ to cancel former professor’s name<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Moses Hall at the University of California Berkeley will no longer be named for Bernard Moses, after activists led a campaign to get him canceled for his views.<\/p>\n

The campus Building Name Review Committee approved the \u201cProposal to Un-name Moses Hall\u201d put together by students and a professor. Moses (pictured<\/em>) worked at the university between 1875 to 1911 and created the university\u2019s political science department. However, his views were \u201cat odds with the present values of the UC Berkeley community,\u201d according to the proposal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Renaming efforts will continue, according to a representative of the committee that oversees requests to remove names.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth the Building Name Review Committee and Chancellor [Carol] Christ have recommended that Bernard Moses’ name\u2026be removed from campus features such as an adjacent parking lot and programs such as the Bernard Moses Memorial Lecture,\u201d graduate student Alex Mabanta told The College Fix<\/em> via email. Mabanta is on the name review committee.<\/p>\n

Moses is accused of having \u201cracist and colonialist\u201d views, according to the proposal. \u201cIt was understood that the Indians, like all savages, lacked the habit of consecutive work, and that compulsion would be necessary to make them persistent laborer,\u201d Moses once wrote. \u201cThe Spanish-negro union might produce only a member of a subject class,\u201d he also wrote, as cited in the proposal.<\/p>\n

In the past three years, other<\/a> building names<\/a> have been removed at the request of the chancellor\u2019s committee.<\/p>\n

In January 2020, Boalt Hall<\/a>, named after John Henry Boalt, was removed, marking the first of five buildings to become unnamed due to the perceived offensive history of its namesakes. John Henry Boalt was a key player in the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.<\/p>\n

Mabanta expressed urgency in continued efforts to remove the Boalt name from campus, \u201cThere is still unfinished business,\u201d Mabanta told The Fix<\/em>. \u201cEven at Berkeley Law School, the name \u2018Boalt\u2019 appears in dozens of places inside and outside the main law building. UC Berkeley must act with greater urgency to execute campus commitments both to unnaming and to acknowledging the campus’ past for the present and future.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong> Check out the Campus Cancel Culture Database<\/a><\/p>\n

The graduate student did not directly answer a question from The Fix<\/em> about how to balance someone\u2019s historical achievements with their views or actions that are now deemed unacceptable by modern society. He said there the naming committee will continue to review individuals for possible cancellation. \u201cThe committee has recommended that the campus create and provide a budget for a working group of faculty, staff, and students to develop a restorative justice plan,\u201d Mabanta said.<\/p>\n

This plan will help the university \u201creckon with the legacy of namesakes of all unnamed buildings, such as developing murals, exhibits, and university-sponsored programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor Milan Mosse, who helped write the proposal, declined to comment on similar questions from The Fix<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Alva No\u00eb, the university\u2019s philosophy chair, called the removal \u201can act of affirmation of the values of love and respect that are today the guiding principles of life here at the university,\u201d according to a university news release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One historian criticized the university\u2019s efforts in comments to The Fix<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, it seems that these professors have been trained in the latter-day academic tasks of deconstructing texts, that is, tearing apart writings and zeroing in on offensive trigger words,\u201d Mary Grabar<\/a> told The Fix<\/em> via email. \u201cAny sixth grader could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWill his books now also be banned from classrooms and libraries? Will students and others be denied the opportunity to review his scholarship and learn from it,\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

She also questioned the fluidity of the present values of the UC Berkeley community,<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes everyone speak with one voice at Berkeley? When were these \u2018present values\u2019 determined? This year? Last year? Ten years ago?\u201d Grabar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, \u2018present values\u2019 means that they change with the times. The committee members better watch out. They too may become unnamed or unpersoned,\u201d Grabar said.<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong> Eventbrite repeatedly cancels college conservatives<\/a><\/p>\n

IMAGES: Public domain; UC-Berkeley<\/p>\n

\n