Kathryn Walters |
Over spring break, the first floor Clark Library elevator doors, which formerly displayed a decorative cover of famous writers and cultural icons such as Adam Smith, Miguel de Cervantes and Clara Barton, were replaced due to complaints about which writers were and weren’t included on the door. The door covers are now blank to match the other elevator doors.
A letter dated March 6, signed by University President Fr. Bill Beauchamp and Provost Thomas Greene, was displayed next to the newly replaced doors. It states that the administration received complaints that “the doors have suggested to many that we are somehow attempting to be arbiters of certain ideas and authors. This, of course, was not the intention.”
According to Beauchamp,who spoke about the doors at the March 18 Academic Senate meeting, these comments came from a variety of sources, such as benefactors, alumni and people on campus.
“It was meant to be a decorative item but it became very controversial who was and who wasn’t on it. Why is this name on, why isn’t this name on, including from some benefactors and different people,” Beauchamp said. “It wasn’t meant to indicate the only things we study or the only people who are important at the university or anything like that, it was just a broad spectrum of different areas.”
According to Dean of the Library Drew Harrington, before the doors were constructed, the Library sought feedback from academic disciplines about who they thought should be included on the door.
