What do FSU students think about the Francis Eppes Controversy?

If you go to FSU, you’ve probably heard the name Francis Eppes. Whether it’s Eppes hall, the Eppes statue at the Westcott fountain, or even Eppes Drive, the name should definitely ring a bell, especially this week with the latest campus controversy. Francis Eppes contributed to the founding of FSU. Francis Eppes also contributed greatly to the Confederacy and owned slaves. A bronze statue commemorating this man, who was the grandson of Thomas Jefferson sits on a bench at the Westcott fountain right in front of the criminology building, which is conveniently named Eppes Hall.

Activists on campus, most prominently Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), have recently been petitioning for the removal of the statue, claiming that this man should not be honored on our campus given his dishonorable background. Others claim that the removal of the statue would just be a denial of the past and that the outrage over being politically correct has gotten out of hand. Here is what some of your fellow Seminoles had to say from both sides of the argument.

Katherine Draken, Senior, Psychology 

President of SDS

“Right now, we are busy with our campaign to remove the statue of Francis Eppes who owned 91 slaves, operated slave-catching militias, and sold his land to support the confederacy during the war. He donated some of his land that actually ended up becoming FSU, but he played a very minor part in the actual existence of FSU, so I don’t see why he’s being honored as the founder. And it’s pretty disgusting that FSU is honoring this terrible person, who is very integral to the history of slavery and tried his entire life to maintain the institution of slavery.”

Zachary Schultz, Junior, Sociology

SDS member

“There is no honor in this man and what he did. He does not deserve a bronze statue made for him on campus or having his name on the criminology building. We think that students need to vote ‘yes’ today in order to get rid of the racist legacy of slavery that continues to exist on this campus. We think that the characterization of Eppes as a founder is misleading. He provided some land and he helped get it recognized. But there were many other people involved, and the campaign to honor him as the founder is actually recent.”

Kayla Goldstein, Graduate student, Media and Communications

“I think it should be removed, because it obviously makes a lot of students uncomfortable who are the descendants of slaves or are still affected by slavery, which still exists today- despite it being illegal- so I personally think that the best option would be to put up a plaque that explains the problematic history of the founding of this university, because it was founded on money garnered from slaves. I think recognizing the history would be the best course of action instead of either erasing the history or ignoring the history, which are kind of the two options.”

Mia Harding, Senior, Family and Child Sciences 

“I don’t think the statue should be removed just because there was a lot of land that was slave land, and you shouldn’t have to have every area renamed. Yes, he owned slaves, but I’m sure a lot of our ancestors owned slaves as well. It’s not that it’s in the past, but it’s been resolved.”

Gordon Jackson, Senior, English Literature

“I don’t care. The guy was not a cool guy. He owned slaves, donated slave land, but at the end of the day, it’s a rock. If they want to keep the rock, they keep the rock. They don’t want to keep the rock, then we’re out one less rock. Choose your battles. There’s more important stuff to fight about.”

Ryan Hollihan, Senior, Editing, Writing, and Media

“I say go for it because I went to Jefferson Davis Middle School, and he was a father of the Confederacy, and they totally renamed it because it wasn’t politically correct. It makes sense that we’re living in a politically correct society where we need to right a bunch of historical wrongs, so any way we need to do that should be done.”

Emily Balan, Sophomore, Criminology

“I think that the controversy is a little too much, a little too intense.  The statue was already here, and it was never a controversy before until now. I feel like they just had to find something to make a controversy. I just feel like I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to make a big deal about a statue. If it offended me, it’s still not my place to do that.”

Despite the great effort to have the statue removed, after a vote from the Florida State student body, over 70% of students were in favor of keeping the statue.