Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Vermont College Accused of Bowing to Cancel Culture After Renaming Chapel
Wall Street Journal ^ | May 12, 2023 | Douglas Belkin

Posted on 05/12/2023 9:37:17 AM PDT by billorites

A former Vermont governor’s estate is suing Middlebury College for removing his family name from the campus chapel he paid for because he advocated for the sterilization of “degenerates and defectives” a century ago.

A 79-page complaint filed in Vermont Superior Court alleges the school breached its contract with the estate of Gov. John Mead in 2021 when it removed the Mead name, which was a precondition of the money gifted to the school to build the chapel. The building sits atop the highest hill on the centuries-old campus.

James Douglas, a spokesman for the estate of former Gov. John Mead, said the dispute is rooted in the college’s embrace of presentism—the act of judging historical figures by current standards. Mr. Douglas also blames cancel culture, saying it tells students which conclusions to draw instead of how to draw their own conclusions.

“Middlebury has a cultural problem that runs contrary to the very purpose of an institution of higher learning,” said Mr. Douglas, who served four terms as a Republican governor of Vermont until 2011.

In a motion to dismiss the case, Middlebury’s lawyers dispute that the gift was predicated on the chapel being named after the Mead family. The college has a duty to grow with the times, and that includes whom it chooses to honor, the school’s lawyers said in court documents.

“The name of former Governor Mead on an iconic building in the center of campus is not consistent with what Middlebury stands for in the 21st century,” the school wrote on its website.

The private, liberal arts school located in central Vermont has about 2,800 undergraduates and an endowment of $1.5 billion. The total cost of attendance per student is $87,000 a year.

A school spokesman declined to comment because of the pending lawsuit.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cancelculture; johnmead; middleburycollege; presentism

1 posted on 05/12/2023 9:37:17 AM PDT by billorites
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: billorites

I thought Middlebury was the center of leftism.


2 posted on 05/12/2023 9:40:26 AM PDT by stanne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: billorites

This school, like most others, is currently controlled by “degenerates and defectives”


3 posted on 05/12/2023 9:41:10 AM PDT by euram (allALL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: euram

they new proposed name.. margaret sanger chapel..


4 posted on 05/12/2023 9:43:29 AM PDT by uranium penguin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: billorites
Nowadays the Left advocates for sterilization of the depressed and confused.

5 posted on 05/12/2023 9:43:33 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: euram

That is right, unfortunately.


6 posted on 05/12/2023 9:44:24 AM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: billorites

“ he advocated for the sterilization of “degenerates and defectives”

I fail to see the issue here.


7 posted on 05/12/2023 9:47:42 AM PDT by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: billorites
removing his family name from the campus chapel he paid for because he advocated for the sterilization of “degenerates and defectives” a century ago.

Weird. This is exactly what the left supports, particularly with abortion, and now, euthenasia.

8 posted on 05/12/2023 9:58:33 AM PDT by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: billorites
sterilization of “degenerates and defectives”

This is what Transgenderism is all about. Are they saying that this is a bad thing?

9 posted on 05/12/2023 9:58:46 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (“You want it one way, but it's the other way”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bk1000

There’d be no Demonrat Stalinazis, that’s the problem, and they know it.


10 posted on 05/12/2023 10:07:54 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (America Owes Anita Bryant An Enormous Apology)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: fieldmarshaldj

They really, really believe that Dartmouth College shouldn’t be associated with the person in question - they just don’t believe it enough to return the original donation (with interest).


11 posted on 05/12/2023 10:45:29 AM PDT by Stosh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: billorites

Close the school. Why feed the purposeful stupid. Let them live their complete lives in ignorance of their own prejudices. If they knew that eugenics was very big and PROGRSSIVE 100 years ago in usa, they might be more leery of PROGRESSIVISM.


12 posted on 05/12/2023 11:21:30 AM PDT by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and harder to find.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson