HAMILTON, NY—Colgate’s Board of Trustees is running into difficulty sweeping their latest problems under the rug. Pending lawsuits, allegations of racial discrimination, suspected violations from Campus Safety, and a broken grievance system have taken too much room for the Board to cover up much else.
In 2001, students began protesting having a building on campus named for a George Barton Cutten, a eugenicist who believed America’s melting pot was dangerous to the supremacy of the white race. Initially, the Board assembled a panel of professors and students to look into the matter. This panel considered adding Adam Clayton Powell Jr.’s name to the building to juxtapose a successful black Colgate alum with the white supremacist that once ruled over Colgate. However, in 2001, the University made room under the rug by changing the team mascot from the Red Raider, a racist depiction of an American Indian, to the Raider, a decidedly less racist depiction of a settler with some type of vitamin deficiency. With pride swelling from taking this commendably progressive step, there was now room under the rug to hide Cutten Hall for another few decades.
After only fifteen years, several sporadic protests, and the occupation of the Admissions building, the administration decided that it was time to get out ahead of this and resolved to vote to remove Cutten’s name from the most swastika-shaped building on campus. It only took them another year and another few scandals to brag about this glorious step in an email to the community. This may have cleared up some room for now, but at the rate that people are starting to notice the mountain under the cover, the Board either needs to start doing some cleaning, or buy a bigger rug.
The Monthly Rag 
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