Baylor University students want statue of school's namesake — Judge J.E.B. Baylor — removed from campus because he owned slaves



A group of students from Baylor University want the statue of Judge J.E.B. Baylor — the man the school is named after — removed from campus because he owned slaves and supported the Confederacy, the Baylor Lariat reported.

What are the details?

Student Sam Onilenla told the campus newspaper that he and other students — who gathered at the statue earlier this month dressed in black and holding Black Lives Matter signs — are trying to pressure the board of regents to remove Baylor's statue.

Onilenla added to the Lariat that "integration didn't happen until 1963, so you have 118 years where there's no black people on this campus," and he doesn't want to see the statue on campus "because I know I'm not supposed to be here, according to him. Having him off campus is going to be the start of racial healing."

"Once we remove that from campus, then we can start removing … the rest of the stuff off the campus that makes us feel uncomfortable," Onilenla noted to the publication.

He also told the Lariat that the school — as a Christian college — shouldn't have Baylor's statue on campus, particularly because he was "a slave owner" and "a Confederacy supporter."

"There's nothing religious about killing slaves or having those ideas," Onilenla told the paper.

Fueling the fire

An incident on campus fueled the students' emotions, as a security guard confronted a group of black freshmen in the library over a noise complaint and told the group, 'This is not a basketball arena. This is a study area." The security guard called for backup and left the area when other students approached him, the Lariat added in a separate story.

Now what?

The Baylor Board of Regents, the school's official governing body, met Wednesday through Friday and will review a report and hear presentations by the Commission on Historic Campus Representations, which was appointed last year to determine if any "statues, buildings, or other tangible tributes on the Waco campus reflect a racist past," Campus Reform said.

The outlet said the commission likely will decide the fate of Baylor's statue.

Students call for Judge Baylor statue to be removedyoutu.be

Baylor University places 'sensitive content' warnings at 9/11 flag memorial created by conservative students. Oops.



Seems Baylor University deemed a display of 2,977 mini-U.S. flags — in memory of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — a tad much for the campus community to emotionally handle without some kind of trigger warning, so they provided one: "Sensitive content" signs.

What are the details?

Baylor's chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas put together the display — a tradition that's been going on at the school for years, Campus Reform reported, citing a news release from the student group.

But this year Baylor Student Activities told YCT it would place "expression activity" signs near the flags, the outlet said, adding that the mandate was handed down fewer than 24 hours before the event.

So YCT demanded an apology.

"We ask that the university formally apologize to the Baylor community for displaying the signs at our memorial in order to assert their commitment to the victims of 9/11," Campus Reform noted, citing the news release.

And the outlet said the school indeed apologized to YCT as well as the group's adviser.

What did the school have to say?

"Baylor University fully supports the 9/11 display of American flags depicting the thousands of lives lost as a result of the attacks that took place 19 years ago," Lori Fogleman, the school's assistant vice president of media and public relations, told Campus Reform.

She went on to explain to the outlet what went into the "sensitive content" signs: "Out of reverence for the exhibit of flags and in knowing that its moving symbolism could evoke a wide range of emotions, signage was placed near the display notifying those who passed by of its potential impact. This is a standard part of our process regarding outdoor displays which we implemented last year based on feedback from our campus community. We regret that the signage we used has taken away from the intent of the display and apologize for any misunderstanding this may have caused."

Fogleman added to Campus Reform that the university has instituted a new policy — and all temporary on-campus displays "that may evoke an emotional reaction" will be labeled as such.

"In this case, the exhibit's purpose was to remember the thousands of lives lost in the 9/11 attacks; in essence, it was a temporary memorial to those who died on that tragic day," she told the outlet. "Our process should have produced a notice informing students, faculty, staff, and visitors of the upcoming 9/11 display and reminding them of its solemn and reverential meaning. Unfortunately, the execution of this process was very poor."

Christian University In Texas Labels 9/11 Flag Display ‘Sensitive Content’

Even though the student group has set up the display annually for years, this was the first year Bayor University chose to place the trigger warning.