Chamberlin Rock: University hosts BBQ for people of color after ‘racist’ boulder removed
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is hosting a “welcome BBQ” on September 12 that is "intended for self-identifying people of color”. The BBQ comes in the wake of the university removing a “racist” boulder from campus.
As per The College Fix, the event has been scheduled four days after the beginning of the academic year at UW. The flyer sending invitations read, “All are welcome, intended for self-identifying people of color.”
The barbecue is reportedly being hosted by the university’s Center for Cultural Enrichment that aims to embrace “all races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender expressions, religions, classes, abilities, or any other aspects of identity we hold.” The College Fix report by Jackson Walker noted that though the event is advertised in almost every location of the campus, it did not get any space on the campus events calendar or the University Housing events and activities page. But “Latinx Cultural Center New Student Welcome” is mentioned on the site.
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A statement provided to The College Fix via email by UW-Madison spokesperson Meredith McGlone noted, “Regarding event promotion … it is standard practice for Housing to use signs rather than online listings to promote events organized within the hall intended primarily for hall residents. The Latinx Student Welcome is not organized by Housing and is targeted to a broader audience, which is why it’s promoted online.”
This comes after the Chamberlin Rock, which rested atop Observatory Hill, was taken down after the Black Student Union and other racial justice activists said it was a “racist monument.” The large boulder was reportedly named after a 19th Century geologist and former university president, Thomas Crowder Chamberlin. Though the big rock was not directly problematic, it was a reporter’s reference to it in a Wisconsin State Journal article written in 1925 that caused the uproar.
In the journal, Russell B Pyre spoke about the rock by writing, “The big boulder on Observatory hill, which is the largest of its kind in the immediate vicinity of Madison, is now out where folks can look at it. For centuries the huge granite ‘n*****head,’ partly visible, has been lying there on the hill, just alongside the cinder drive. For three days a crew of men, with horses, steel cables and capstan of 75-tons pulling capacity have been working to bring it to the surface.”
University researchers did not find any other instance where the boulder was referred to using the N-word, but stated that the Ku Klux Klan was active on campus during that time period.
After the rock was removed, Juliana Bennett, a senior and a campus representative on the Madison City Council, welcomed it by saying: “This moment is about the students, past and present, that relentlessly advocated for the removal of this racist monument. Now is a moment for all of us BIPOC students to breathe a sigh of relief, to be proud of our endurance, and to begin healing.”
Nalah McWhorter, the Black Student Union president and a UW-Madison senior, added: “I’m grateful that we have had the opportunity to do this and that the rock will be removed. It was our demand, and it was something that we put all the work in for.”