University of Tacoma removes names of racist professors from museum

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Slater was concealed on a sign outside the University of Puget Sound Museum of Natural History. Craig Sailor The Newsstand

When the University of Puget Sound named its natural history museum after James Slater in 1979, it apparently didn’t know or care that the former biology professor was teaching a course based on racist theories. .

The school’s board of trustees voted unanimously May 12 to remove Slaters’ name from the museum after a student discovered the now-deceased professor taught eugenics classes there until 1951. Eugenics is the practice of human reproduction arranged to supposedly increase desirable characteristics in a population. . Adopted by Nazi Germany, the philosophy was completely discredited at the end of the 20th century for being unscientific and racist.

Puget Sounds’ commitment to diversity is inherently at odds with the concept of eugenics on a fundamental level, said UPS Vice President Lorna Hernandez Jarvis, who co-chaired a committee to examine the issue. The public commemoration of an individual committed for decades to these beliefs implies a respect that does not correspond to the mission, vision and values ​​of the institution.

Slater taught at what was then the College of Puget Sound from 1919 to 1951. He taught a eugenics course for most of his time at the college.

When Slater began his career, eugenics was an accepted scientific discipline. But by the time he finished, he had been largely debunked. His last major cheerleader was Stanford Nobel Prize-winning physics professor William Shockley, a devoted eugenicist who spent the last decades of his life trying to prove that people of African descent were inferior. Shockley, who had no background in biology, died an outcast.

Tacoma College continued to offer the eugenics course until 1954.

Research student

In 2021, UPS student Grace Eberhardt submitted a research paper to university president Isiaah Crawford and requested that Slaters’ name be removed from the museum. Eberhardt discovered that Slater was a member of the American Eugenics Society, and through his teaching supported sterilization, race-based hierarchies, and the idea that genetic traits made certain behaviors more criminally prone.

Slater was concealed on a sign outside the University of Puget Sound Museum of Natural History. Craig Sailor The Newsstand

At the same time that Eberhardt was conducting his research, a UPS committee formed to establish naming protocols submitted its recommendations to Crawford. A new committee considered Eberhardt’s request. It was made up of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and trustees, as well as experts in biology, historical research, ethics, diversity, equity, inclusion, communications, fundraising, and relationships. with donors.

They did a ton of research and looked at what different institutions had, and really into this individual’s story, UPS spokesperson Lindsay Nyquist said Friday.

The committee’s final report in April found compelling evidence that the name is detrimental to the university’s mission and commitment to diversity.

Slaters’ teachings have had a negative impact on historically marginalized communities, people of color and neurodivergent people, the committee found.

The name (Slater) is a constant reminder of a harmful belief system that has oppressed and caused profound mental and physical harm to members of these communities, the committee said.

The Puget Sound Museum of Natural History is located on the second floor of Thompson Hall at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. Craig Sailor The Newsstand

We want to make sure everyone feels comfortable and accepted and understands that they’re really, really part of this community,” Nyquist said. And that name was a reminder of a system from the past that was not aligned with who we are as an institution.

The renaming of the Natural History Museum is the latest in a similar series in the region. In 2021, Woodrow Wilson High School was renamed Dolores Silas High School. Wilson, the 28th President of the United States, served from 1913 to 1921 and was known for leading the country during World War I. He was a segregationist who wrote a history textbook praising the Confederacy and was an advocate for the Ku Klux Klan.

Also in 2021, Jason Lee Middle School was renamed Hilltop Heritage Middle School. Lee was a known missionary to the white colony of the Pacific Northwest in the 19th century. He was largely insensitive to native culture, establishing a school with the goal of converting Native Americans to the beliefs and practices of white Americans. The school also helped spread the disease among students.

To restart

The university of 2,100 students decided to return to its past for the museum’s new name. It will now be called The Puget Sound Museum of Natural History, the same name that was used before it was named for Slater. The museum houses over 100,000 bird, mammal, reptile, amphibian, plant, insect, and geological specimens.

The Puget Sound Museum of Natural History houses more than 100,000 bird, mammal, reptile, amphibian, plant, insect, and geological specimens. Craig Sailor The Newsstand

The university has begun removing the Slater name from physical and online museum spaces.

The museum is open Wednesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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