UMich students protest to rename building honoring a eugenicist
The C.C. Little Science building is named after an ex-president
“Hey! Ho! This racist admin. has to go!”
“No justice…no peace!”
“Black Lives Matter!”
These were the chants which echoed throughout The Diag just as the sun began to set last evening. Dozens of students gathered for the second day of the AGITATE action plan which focused on protest of the C.C. Little Science Building.
Hundreds of students flood the seats of classrooms and labs in C.C. Little, and commuters line the outside of waiting for the Bursley-Baits bus, but is there an awareness of what the name C.C. Little actually means for this University? This is what demonstrators aimed to put a spotlight on last night.
Clarence C. Little served as President of University of Michigan from 1925-1929. The controversy over renaming the building lies within his notoriously unethical behavior as a consequence of his affiliation with eugenics.
Defined as a movement dedicated to improving the genetic composition of the human race, eugenics encapsulated ideology such as “selective breeding,” or even the notion that certain races have genetic traits particular to them regarding behavior, abilities, and mental capacity. The eugenics movement additionally engaged in extreme experimentation including the sterilization of people of color in order to aspire to an ideal human race- in other words a white male dominated society.
Last night, University Council, comprised of each student government on campus, met in Michigan Union to discuss recent hate speech and racism on campus and renaming the C.C. Little Science Building.
LSA faculty members and Student Government have proposed a 20-page outline which highlights the historical context and controversy of C.C. Little and encourages the University to consider renaming.
President Schlissel often states, “Racism has no place on this campus.” But guess what? Take a look at the C.C. Little Science Building.
…It’s already here.