Courtesy / University of Maine
Clarence C. Little
September 28, 2020
UMaine will strip name of former president, eugenics backer from campus building
Courtesy / University of Maine
The University of Maine System trustees voted Monday to change the name of Clarence Cook Little Hall on the Orono campus.
By William Hall
The University of Maine will join a growing number of schools, research institutions and other organizations trying to distance themselves from historical figures connected to racism.
The University of Maine System board of trustees on Monday morning voted 13-0 to strip the name of Clarence Cook Little Hall, a classroom building on the Orono campus built in 1966 and dedicated to the UMaine president from 1922 to 1925.
A new name will be recommended by a board working group.
Little, who also founded the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, was a biologist, academic administrator and prominent advocate of eugenics — the discredited belief that the human race can be improved by scientifically cultivating certain genetic traits.
Proponents of eugenics called for sterilization of people with undesirable traits, and today eugenics is often supported by white supremacist groups. Little served as a president of the American Eugenics Society.
In addition, Little was scientific director of the Council for Tobacco Research, an industry advocacy group, and publicly denied for years that smoking cigarettes was a significant cause of cancer or any other disease.
Little served as scientific director from the group's founding in 1954, as the Tobacco Industry Research Committee, to 1969. In 1971, he died in Ellsworth of a heart attack.
UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy commissioned a task force earlier this year to consider the issue of Little’s legacy, and in June the group recommended the removal of his name.
In July, Jackson Lab said it would remove the name from a conference center on the research facility’s campus. In 2018, the University of Michigan — where Little served as president from 1925 to 1929 — removed the name from one of its science buildings.
The UMaine task force wrote in June: “C.C. Little’s name should be removed from Little Hall because major areas of his professional life violate the ideals that are central to the educational mission of the University of Maine and its commitment to the public good.
“A new name for the building is a significant opportunity to better align the campus landscape with the values of the university, a process that should include public commemoration of Little’s career as well as information about the renaming process.”
UMaine System Chairman James Erwin said Monday in explaining his vote for the change: "I don't see this as an exercise in revisionism, which I might well resist, but much more a correction of a mistake that should have been recognized as such in 1966."
Other colleges and universities have adopted new monikers on their campuses in recent years because of concerns about racism. One of the most publicized changes occurred in June, when Princeton University dropped the name of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson from its School of Public and International Affairs. Wilson, a graduate and president of the university, has long been criticized for his support of racial segregation.
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Anonymous
October 2, 2020
At least Little left us with Jackson Lab, among the other damnable things he did.
Anonymous
September 28, 2020
Disgraceful, greedy move by our president as she lied to the trustees to falsely induce them into this stupid act. Hey President Mundy, return all the money from President Little's Endowment Fund. Oh right, this is only about his name, the money isn't tainted.
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