(11-12-2021 12:47 AM)Intellectual_Brutality Wrote: (11-11-2021 10:34 PM)Baconator Wrote: Does anybody know what his position is on removing Willy’s Statue?
what's the debate around the statue?
Well, if you dare venture into The Quad, you can read about the issue in detail in the thread titled "Founder's Memorial Update - Task Force on Slavery, Segregation, & Racial Injustice." Immediately following the initial post-George Floyd protests and rioting, a Rice Black Student group created and submitted a list of approximately 20 demands to the university, including 1) the removal of Willy's statue, 2) the building of an on campus "Black House" - similar in size to the residential colleges, to be used only by black students for events and socializing, 3) implementation of mandatory diversity training for all professors, counselors, students, etc., 4) an increase in percentage of black students, professors, counselors, etc., 5) a cutting of all ties with the Houston Police Department and reducing the amount of RUPD presence on campus, 6) that a continuous monetary investment be made by Rice to the Third Ward, etc. In the weeks and months the followed, many of the Rice athletes participated in some form of BLM protests, such as 1) the football team marching in unison to conduct a formal protest in the main quad, 2) basketball team members wearing BLM warmup jerseys last year, 3) soccer team members kneeling during the national anthem (Note: I never witnessed this myself - another poster mentioned this had occurred at women's soccer games this year).
Not surprisingly, throughout all this, the university leadership has maintained a strong, left-leaning public stance on these issues. A committee was formed to look into this list of demands, and my understanding is that their resulting report indicated that most of the black student demands will be met, including removal of Willy's statue. However, none of us have heard any news as to the University's final decision on these issues - most importantly, the decision on whether Willy's statue will in fact be removed. After witnessing other universities and cities bowing to the cancel culture movement, and knowing the political leanings of the current Rice administration, most of us feel it is just a matter of time before a final decision is made to remove the statue (and perhaps change the name of the university?). Because of their disagreement with the cancel culture movement, many Rice athletic supporters have decided to stop attending Rice sporting events and have ended their financial relationship with Rice - including most of my friends and I, who have been attending Rice football, basketball, and baseball sporting events together for the last 30 years.
In my view, Leebron should have announced the university's path-forward decision on all these issues by now - why has that not been the case? Meanwhile, many of Rice's most die-hard sports fans continue to boycott the games and have stopped donating any money to the Owl Club and Annual Fund.
I am really hoping the new President will be an alumni uniter, and not a divider like our current President. Here's a good compromise for him to implement: Keep the statue as is, but add other statues in the quad honoring the first black students, former Rice Nobel Prize winners, etc. Am I being naive? Is a reasonable compromise like that too much to hope for?
