A commission at a Texas university recommended that some references to slaveholders on campus be changed but gave an exception to the school’s namesake.
Baylor University’s 26-member Commission on Historic Campus Representations, which was formed in June 2020 after the death of George Floyd, released its report Tuesday. The group was tasked with “reviewing and evaluating the historical record and context of the University and its early leaders solely related to slavery and the Confederacy,” according to a university press release.
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The commission recommended a number of changes but stopped short of asking to have a statue of the school’s namesake, Judge R.E.B. Baylor, who helped found the university and owned slaves, removed.
“As we begin our important work in response to the Commission’s report, let me state that we are proud of the name of Baylor University. As you will read in the Commission’s report, Judge Baylor was not a perfect man,” said Mark Rountree, chairman of Baylor’s board of regents. “As a slaveholder, he engaged in a practice we know to be sinful and abhorrent. We do not justify or downplay the evil of slavery. With our University, Judge Baylor established the foundation for hundreds of thousands of students — which now include all races and creeds — to receive a unique educational experience that combines academic excellence and a Christian commitment.”
A statement on the Baylor monument, which reads, “He exemplified in his life the motto of Baylor University pro ecclesia/pro texana,” should be removed or more thoroughly explained, the board recommended.
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Among the recommendations, the commission asked that a memorial be created to honor those who were enslaved by the university’s founders.
The campus’s Burleson Quadrangle, named for Rufus Burleson, a former president of the university, should have its name be changed, and the monument to Burleson should be moved to a less prominent location at the school, the board said.
“At the end of the day, they’re all recommendations,” Sam Onilenla, a junior at Baylor, told the Texas Tribune. “It’s about implementing those recommendations that we’re going to have to see.”
