Please Pardon the Sand in My Eyes

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One of the more popular cultural myths that falls by the wayside as we grow up is that, when threatened, ostriches bury their heads the sand. Actually, if they can’t escape, they just play dead - or play possum to mix a wildlife metaphor. The “head in the sand” idea being if I can’t see the threat, it can’t see me.  In practice, only humans seem to buy this fallacy.  A couple of ongoing examples spring to mind.  Around the country statues depicting “heroes of the Confederacy” are being torn down occasionally replaced by works more in keeping with our, finally, clearer understanding of the harm done by the glorification of the racist views reflected in these works. The same should be said of the renaming of buildings that were named in honor of such individuals. Having just recently retired from a large public university situated in the old confederacy, I have been following these actions at my own and sister institutions. And I can raise no objections whatsoever to removing these statues and names from their previous places of honor. However, being a firm believer in the old adage “those who do not learn from their history, are inclined to repeat it,” I am concerned about what comes next. 

Given the oft-cited deplorable state of our young people’s knowledge of American history I am concerned that these removals will simply result in “out of sight, out of mind.” And we, and our students, will simply stick our heads back into the muddled sands of time. I shudder to think what the results might be if we questioned students and faculty regarding “Who was the subject of that statue?" and “Why is/was there a statue of them on campus?” “Who was your office building, classroom building, dorm, named after and why?” I am afraid we would be greeted with heads popping out from under the sand, featuring a frightening number of blank stares. Yes, it was Jefferson Davis, but no, he did not play quarterback at Clemson.

It strikes me that we are missing a great teaching opportunity here in the redecoration of our campuses and other public buildings. I’m not sure where these statues are headed, and am sadly aware that their public display could create a rallying spot for misguided hate groups. Nonetheless, I can envision a website - a sort of “Where did they go and why?” place where digital versions of the works could be displayed accompanied by descriptions of the rationale behind the removal of the works or the “decommissioning” of the various buildings. The site could become a valuable resource to be used in various history, art, literature, and western civilization courses.  

We are, after all, supposed to be teaching institutions, and that distinction is being threatened on a number of fronts.  I read with horrified disbelief stories of speakers being “uninvited” from presenting speeches or participating in debates at prestigious campuses because students and faculty have determined, a priori, that they disagree with the perspective advocated by the speaker. Where, if not on college campuses, should the opposing voices of our culture be raised in open debate? Perhaps a small silver lining to the COVID mandated necessity of online courses could be “zoomed debates” among controversial adversaries where disruptions by those who would silence open debate could themselves be silenced. Optional digital sandboxes could be provided for those unwilling to listen to either speaker or speakers. As I pointed out, they would not disturb any ostriches.

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