By Mikiya Ellis-Glunt
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Two facts recently tweeted by Towson University activist students may have plunged the school into a battle already raging on campuses across the nation to confront and eliminate America’s racist past.
“Y’all. I bet y’all didn’t know that Frederick Douglas (name of Douglass House) was enslaved on the plantation of William Paca (of Paca House)” tweeted Jordan@JordanxRiver.
A second tweet by Sarah Fishkind: “& Charles Caroll also owned a plantation with 300-400 slaves at any given time. (Carroll Hall)
These new facts call into question the #NotatTU campaign launched in 2016 to create an inclusive, unbiased, hate-free environment on campus, some students charge.
“For three years I’ve attended Towson and had no idea those buildings [Carroll and Paca] were named after slave owners,” said junior Justin Robinson.
Carroll, Millennium and Marshall halls, Towson Run, Barton, Douglass, Tubman and Paca houses make up the West Village housing community on Towson’s sprawling campus. Tubman and Paca houses opened in 2008 during Phase One of the West Village project. Douglass and Barton were later developed in 2011, during Phase Two.
Paca House and Carroll Hall were named after William Paca and Charles Carroll, respectively. Both men signed the Declaration of Independence and both owned slaves.
“After finding out this information, I felt obligated as a leader, African-American, and just average person to make this known and to make a difference,” said Jordan Smith, a resident assistant in West Village.
“I feel like people higher up in Towson were being shady with this information,” Smith said. “This wasn’t the first time students brought up to SGA and officials [that] this is something that should have been fixed the first time.”
Smith took to twitter along with fellow Towson students to spread knowledge and history of the buildings’ names.
Other campuses are embroiled in similar discussions. Last month, Macalester College President Brian Rosenberg urged the Board of Trustees to revise the name of an Arts & Humanities building named for the school’s founder, Edward Duffield Neill. According to the StarTribune, Rosenberg attributed his push for a name change “based on the racism reflected in [Neill’s] historical writings, which are extreme even by the standards of his time.” Macalester College is a private, liberal arts school in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Last year, students at the University of Southern California urged the university to rename the campus center because Rufus von KleinSmid, the fifth president, was an advocate for eugenics, according to The New York Times.
The heightened political climate and the fight for equity over the past couple of years also have had a significant impact on the surrounding Baltimore community. The battle to remove Confederate statues was one of the biggest campaigns that came to a head in 2017 when the Baltimore City Council voted to deconstruct Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee monuments located in Charles Village.
This is also not the first time students have advocated to change the names of buildings on Towson’s campus. In September 2017, President Kim Schatzel implemented a policy called Naming of Facilities and Academic programs. The policy states its purpose is “To ensure that Towson University facilities, buildings and programs are named consistently with the University’s principles, ideals and values.”
Almost two years later, the names of the buildings remain the same.
“Considering Towson’s core values reflect inclusivity and safety, I feel like after finding this out I don’t really trust many people in power in what they say they are here to do,” said Smith.
Jaline Vasquez Cruz, a Community Center manager in the Glen Complex, said all students enrolled at Towson should feel comfortable on campus.
“If the building names affect even one person, it should matter to everyone,” said Vasquez Cruz. “Even if you don’t respect the fight for the name change, you should at least try to understand and sympathize with those who are being affected.”
And inclusion goes beyond building names, said Towson senior Sean Rudolph.
“Working as a supervisor in the Outdoor Adventures Center [OAC] has given me the opportunity to foster an inclusive environment through making sure individuals of all abilities have access to come in and climb,” said Rudolph, who has worked at the center in Burdick Hall for three years.
Rudolph said he has undergone various trainings to ensure the facility accommodates every individual no matter the difference in physical or cognitive abilities. Though the topic of racist names might be different, Rudolph said the basis of what the university values plays a role in both.
“I say all this to say, how important inclusivity is across our campus to promote a healthy environment and are able to grow as they are in the most important years of their lives,” Rudolph said.
So the question remains, how can students advocate for change to reflect the university’s values and mission?
“Organizing a mass email to Housing and Residence Life about this issue and any future issues will put pressure on HRL [to encourage revision],” said Ken Mustafa, a Towson junior.
USC Provost Michael Quick told The New York Times in an interview: “The past isn’t always rosy. If we can’t figure it out as a university, how do we figure it out as a country?”