Student petition highlights controversial busts
Chapman administration will establish a committee to review campus statues and revise its selection process for deeming which historical figures are selected for busts.
Five busts and their placement on campus are being called into question, as the historical figures depicted on the statues have left controversial impressions in their wake. Sam Andrus PHOTO EDITOR
In the wake of a petition circling social media and calling for Chapman to remove busts of controversial historical figures, President Danielle Struppa announced Aug. 5 that the administration will not comply with requests to take action at this time. Struppa explained the decision was aimed to encourage students to critically engage with “discordant ideologies” of the past in order to better participate in discourse with one another.
The petition, now garnering over 750 signatures as of Aug. 9, was created by sophomore political science major Markos Buhler. After getting support from student organizations like Black Student Union and Chapman Feminists, as well as polling the student body on Instagram about what busts they want replaced, Buhler compiled a formal letter to Chapman administration – attached at the bottom of the petition – that details the historical travesties of “problematic” figures Ronald Reagan, Albert Schweitzer, Margaret Thatcher, Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand.
“Glorifying any historical figure through a bust on campus doesn’t lead to understanding of all the historical figure has done,” Buhler said. “All it shows is that Chapman is OK with putting someone on a pedestal, and in this case, historical figures that have used abuse or power to harm or treat historically marginalized groups unequally.”
Ronald Reagan is one example of a bust under scrutiny by the student body. Campaigning under the ever-familiar slogan, “Let’s Make America Great Again,” Reagan’s textbook legacy is boiled down to his nationalist optimism and supply-side economic policies. This selective history overlooks Reagan’s handling of the War on Drugs in 1982, which led to the incarceration of over two million people, and is widely believed to have contributed to the disproportionate criminalization of primarily Black, inner-city communities. While Reagan’s flaws were certainly not lacking, along with that of the other busts highlighted in the petition, it provokes the question: Where do we draw the line between deeming historical figures as racists or just products of their times?
President Struppa contested in his email to the Chapman community that “with rare exception, it is difficult not to find controversial aspects in most of these figures.” Each of the busts are donations – a landmark to commemorate a newly-endowed chair of the university. The historical figures are generally selected and paid for by additional donors, and the request is run by the President of the university for approval.
“Maybe it’s also another problem within itself that to put up busts, you have to have a lot of money, which doesn’t necessarily say that these busts are representing a diverse thought of students on campus,” Buhler said. “It’s more representing diverse thoughts of their families or the donors themselves.”
Struppa is working closely with the Student Government Association and Chapman trustees to create a formal selection process for future busts using a new long-range planning committee. Chapman’s 2017 Strategic Plan for Diversity and Inclusion establishes an intent to evaluate if “Chapman’s physical spaces are representative of a diverse and inclusive community,” with one of the outlined strategies being the construction of this committee. With nearly four years having come and gone, no new busts have since been constructed on campus.
However, the Albert Schweitzer Institute webpage was updated in June with an essay of context, conceding that Schweitzer’s writings on African Americans were “patronizing” and possessed racist undertones. Now, Struppa hopes to apply the same concept of contextual background to the rest of the 40 busts located around campus. By placing QR codes on each of the busts, students will be able to scan with their phones and access a digital archive of holistic, factual essays from faculty on Chapman’s website.
“I grew up in Italy where universities were on the forefront of social disruption, so they were fervent with ideas and debate, and that’s what I hope is going to happen,” Struppa said. “(Universities) were the place where future leaders were created, and you create future leaders by forcing them into difficult discussion.”
The battle to replace these specific busts has been an ongoing effort over the last several years. Archives of The Panther from 2015 report students covering busts in caution tape and congregating in protest; the same five busts are still being protested by Chapman students. The resurgence of effort in the cause comes at a time when controversial monuments are being protested across the country. In many U.S. cities, protestors are vandalizing and calling for the removal of statues that represent the Confederacy or are deeply embedded in the racist history of the nation.
The goal: to create an environment that feels safe and inclusive. The same applies to Chapman’s campus in the eyes of its students advocating for change. Buhler said that the petition would not be halted by Struppa’s response, and he will continue to spread awareness.
“It’s important to kind of look within oneself and ask, ‘How am I actively playing into this? What can I do to help? What can I do that’s not overstepping or performative in that sense?’” Buhler said. “It’s really important to put your own personal stuff aside and constantly keep challenging yourself every day.”