I am compelled to comment on the article in the Gazette on Aug. 18 with the dramatic headline: “Students call for Seelye’s ouster,” which reported on Smith College School for Social Work student protests against L. Clark Seelye, the first president of the college.
In recent years, more and more examples of racism, sexism, and other systemic inequalities are exposed, many of these directly connected to heralded historical and cultural figures. Holidays, city streets, sports teams and mascots are renamed.
But, I am disturbed by what I see as attempts to erase history, whereas I feel we all need to learn from it, truly acknowledge our past errors, often grievous, and work toward reconciliation, reparations, and trying to create a more just and equitable world.
As a Jew, I know what it is to feel that one’s fellow Jews were, and still are, targeted simply for the faith we follow. Jews have been denigrated, stereotyped, misrepresented, and during the Holocaust especially, slaughtered by the millions. Their land, houses, possessions, livelihoods, and even their lives were taken by radicals. Sadly, this has happened to too many other ethnic and religious groups throughout history (including Jewish confiscation of Palestinian/Arab lands and property) and in the modern world.
It seems trite to say, “If we don’t remember history, we are condemned to repeat it.” But it is true. Robert E. Lee is best known as a leader of the Confederacy; he was a traitor to the United States. Therefore, I would support the removal of statues of him and of his name from schools and buildings that honor him. But, I also would want at least some of the statues to be relocated to museums where they could be provided with context. I want us to live in a world where we can examine history and learn from it, not try to erase it, by eliminating the evidence of very bad things which have happened.
In the case of L. Clark Seelye, I truly hope that his portrait will not be removed from Seelye Hall, nor that the Smith College will change the name of that building which houses classrooms and faculty offices.
Seelye’s legacy is as an ardent supporter of women’s rights to higher education equal to that of men. Should his name be removed from Seelye Hall at Smith because of a racist statement he made against Indians in a speech in 1904?
In many ways, Seelye was a man of his time, embracing common prejudices and myths of his time concerning indigenous Americans, Black persons, immigrants, women, and other minorities. But, it is dangerous to judge anyone from another time and/or culture by modern standards. I’m not excusing Seelye’s prejudices because they were commonly held. We can’t change the past, but one hopes we can learn from it and become better people. I sincerely hope that as Smith College explores a route forward toward racial and social justice, it does not choose to erase its history, but to respect it.
Barbara B. Blumenthal, of Northampton, is a member of Smith College’s class of 1975.