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By Vicky Hart
Note: Since this story was written, the Board of Trustees met on Nov. 12 and voted unanimously to remove Pierce from the Library’s name. Read the news story here: eou.edu/news-press/board-approves-budget-de-names-library.
Before spring term ended last June, over 100 EOU students joined several hundred community members in making their voices heard in a public forum. drew attention on a Tuesday afternoon, but student leaders had already been at work on a poignant racial equity issue for years.
EOU students tapped into a legacy of campus activism in 2018 when student body leaders passed a that questioned the appropriateness of an EOU building named for former Oregon governor Walter Pierce. This resolution, combined with a , led President Tom Insko to form a committee of students, faculty and staff to review the naming issue.
This fall, after two years of academic research and community involvement, the EOU Board of Trustees will vote on whether to alter the library鈥檚 name.
Now a senior studying public health and psychology, Andrea Camacho has been a strong voice in these conversations since the ASEOU resolution. Camacho was joined on the committee by fellow student Joel Chin, library faculty member Katie Townsend, ’06, and history professor Rebecca Hartman. The committee was chaired by Vice President for University Advancement Tim Seydel.
Together, they were tasked with investigating Walter and Cornelia Pierce鈥檚 public stances on inclusion and recommending a course of action.
The processes of public institutions are often at odds with the passion of student leaders, but Camacho remained persistent. For over a year, committee members met to discuss recent findings, review Pierce documents and materials, delve into previous research and collect input from peers. When COVID-19 emerged in early 2020, the committee鈥檚 long-anticipated visit to the state archives had to be cancelled.
鈥淚 had to learn the process,鈥� Camacho said. 鈥淭his conversation has been happening since 1999鈥擨 was born in 1999.鈥�
Over 20 years ago, a committee of EOU faculty investigated Pierce鈥檚 history and found no convincing evidence that he was affiliated with Ku Klux Klan. They concluded that, while he cultivated the Klan vote, he was not a member, and that there was not sufficient reason to rename the library. The also identified Cornelia Pierce’s role as Oregon’s state librarian. The university moved to rename the building “Pierce Library.”
The 1999 committee did not include student input, but for the last two years Camacho has solicited feedback from her classmates, continuing to elevate student voices.
鈥淚 had conversations with , Speel-Ya and Navigators Club,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hese students were dumbfounded that EOU just hadn鈥檛 changed the name yet.鈥�
Community members, employees, students and alumni also shared their input through an online form.
Townsend, who has overheard students鈥� discomfort with the library鈥檚 name throughout her 12 years as an employee, said she hoped to collect evidence that could serve as a reference point for questions that surface regularly.
鈥淚 really appreciated having students on the committee, to hear from them and see them continue to push for this, and go through the process, which takes so much longer than any of us want it to usually,鈥� Townsend said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 move as fast as students expect or want, and they figured out how to persevere and stay passionate about it.鈥�
Hartman agreed that student participation strengthens EOU鈥檚 liberal arts approach to graduating well-rounded, engaged citizens. Hartman said she saw students become educators for faculty, staff and administrators, and they continued to agitate from outside the committee, posting an.
鈥淪tudents did have to tussle with that lesson of how to bend the system to your will, how to work the process and the system,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy for institutions not to listen to voices that want change, not because of ill-will but because it鈥檚 easier to not change. I was impressed not just by their passion, but their tenacity.鈥�
Pierce governed Oregon from 1922 to 1926. He also spent 10 years in the U.S. Congress and two terms in the state senate.
Townsend said historical records list him as an honorary member of the KKK and show that he cultivated the group鈥檚 support in his gubernatorial campaign. No conclusive evidence of his KKK membership was found, but Townsend said this particular facet of the controversy can distract from other important questions.
“Some past discussions seemed to only consider his Klan membership, but there’s so much that is concerning,鈥� Townsend said. 鈥淗is speeches and actions show racist views toward so many groups that continued for his whole career. The Klan membership question is part of his history that should be examined, but the conversation needs to be expanded.鈥�
recounts a thorough investigation of Pierce鈥檚 legacy saying, 鈥淲e conclude that regardless of the question of his Klan membership, Pierce鈥檚 support of the [anti-Catholic] Compulsory School bill, his and Cornelia鈥檚 successful campaign for forced sterilization [of people with mental illnesses], his vote against a federal anti-lynching law, and his sustained assault upon the civil liberties of Japanese-Americans are clear evidence of the Pierces鈥� discriminatory actions and values.鈥�
They found that while Pierce supported agriculture and infrastructure, he did so exclusively for the benefit of white Oregonians.
The committee report reads, 鈥淔or Pierce, civil liberties, due process, and democratic processes were not universal rights and principles but rather, entitlements of white Protestant Americans. However one might attempt to historically 鈥榗ontextualize鈥� these values, even in the early 20th Century, and certainly by the mid-century, the Pierces鈥� commitment to exclusionary racial policies reflected a strain of racist ideology that was increasingly rejected by Americans. We see no way to reconcile such a legacy with the values and goals of our university.鈥�
In his 2020 Convocation address to staff and faculty, EOU President Tom Insko shared insights from a friend of the university who responded to concerns about erasing history.
鈥淗is words were: 鈥楾his is not an exercise in rewriting history. History cannot be re-written, only our perceptions of what our collective histories mean to us can be revised. This decision is about whose lives and philosophies we in the 21st Century choose to celebrate and honor.
鈥淚t is one thing to accept that people lived in their times and must be judged in that context. It is quite another thing to continue to honor a century later people who we know in our hearts were wrong, and whose actions generated a divided society we are struggling to this day to correct.鈥欌��
鈥淚 believe it鈥檚 time for us to drop the name Pierce from the library, but we need to approach this in such a way that it allows for inclusion and many points of view because there are many out there that disagree with that perspective,鈥� Insko said.
The committee鈥檚 report has been submitted to Insko and he鈥檒l make a to the Board of Trustees at its Nov. 12 meeting. As a public meeting, community members, students and employees are invited to provide testimony on the issue.
At the close of a long process and following 66 years of contentious debate, committee members see an opportunity for EOU to fully embrace its mission, values and principles.
“We used the EOU mission statement to frame our analysis of the Pierces鈥� legacy and we concluded that their legacy fundamentally conflicts with the university’s mission,鈥� Hartman said. 鈥淧art of what we do as an institution of higher learning is examine, reflect and think about ways our history can be an opportunity to learn about ourselves, and make choices about what we want to stand for. Denaming the library empowers us to move past our history and work toward a more equitable and inclusive future.鈥�
The professors who co-authored the 1999 report now favor de-naming the building, which Hartman attributes to increased awareness of how systemic racism is entrenched through cultural symbols like building names. Hartman added that student activism has aided a general seachange in public opinion regarding racial equity, oppression and how to remember historical figures.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a testament that EOU is doing what it鈥檚 supposed to do: creating critical thinkers engaged in the world around them,鈥� Hartman said. 鈥淭he fact that students have spearheaded this should encourage us and give us hope. We are, in fact, doing our jobs because students are equipped to change the world.鈥�
Camacho, who anticipates earning her degree in spring, embodies that success. She acquired letters of support, not just from peers, but from the . Her efforts to educate the community resulted in wider awareness that spurred public action.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have a Ph.D., I鈥檓 not a historian, but I do know what鈥檚 right and what鈥檚 wrong,鈥� Camacho said. 鈥淔or the past two years, this is all I鈥檝e wanted from EOU. We need something to show that EOU is moving in the right direction.鈥�
In her final year on campus, she said this particular decision could stand as a pillar for change as higher education follows its students into the future.
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