The Johns Hopkins Name Review Board has issued a recommendation on the continued use of the name of Woodrow Wilson, who earned a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University in 1886 and became the 28th president of the United States, as part of an undergraduate scholarship program. and a named entrance to a residence hall on the Homewood campus.

The Name Review Board, or NRB, was established to review requests to rename, rename, and/or add context to Hopkins buildings, features, and programs that recognize individuals whose legacies may now be considered antithetical to the values ​​of the institution. During its deliberations, the NRB determined that in cases where a name adorns more than one element, it would examine each element independently, taking into account its location, the nature of the appellation of origin and the persons concerned, and weighing the importance of not simply erasing aspects of the institution’s history.

Image caption: Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States

Throughout its year-long deliberation process, the NRB spent considerable time examining the entire legacy of Woodrow Wilson. After multiple discussions and extensive review of archives and documents, he recommended:

• Retain name with contextualization on AMR I Wilson House entry; And
• Removal of name from Woodrow Wilson Undergraduate Research Fellowship; in the future, the scholarship will be known as the Undergraduate Research Scholarship and may be renamed in the future.

Both recommendations were approved by the university’s board of trustees.

“As the only president of the United States to hold a doctorate, earned from Johns Hopkins University in 1886, the NRB determined that Woodrow Wilson’s connection to the institution was significant,” said Sarah O ‘Hagan, a SAIS graduate and vice president at Johns Hopkins University. The JHU Board of Trustees and NRB Chairman wrote in a message to those who asked the NRB to evaluate the use of Wilson’s name.

“Retaining the name with contextualization at the entrance to Wilson House in AMR I provides the university with an opportunity to recognize Wilson’s connection to Johns Hopkins University and the Homewood campus, to recognize his achievements and failures, and to engage the Homewood community, especially students, in meaningful activities. conversations about complex legacies. …Simultaneously removing the name of the scholarship places the responsibility for contextualizing the history of the university and the full complexity of Wilson’s legacy on the institution rather than on individual students and alumni.

In making its recommendations, the NRB took into account Wilson’s global and domestic accomplishments, including the creation of the League of Nations, the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Trade Commission; enact labor laws that establish the 8-hour workday and limit child labor; supporting the passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote; and appointing Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish justice to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Elected to the presidency in 1912, he served two terms until 1921.

The council also assessed the impact of his administration’s actions and policies on Black Americans. This includes the segregation of federal workspaces in Washington, D.C., a reversal from previous presidential administrations that resulted in the demotion and humiliation of Black workers in the federal government. Wilson’s legacy also includes racist views and writings and a tenure as president of Princeton University during which he used his administrative authority to ensure that the body of study remained white and male, including discouraging black candidates to apply.

The University Name Review Committee was established by the Naming Principles Committee, a group tasked with developing a set of principles and a process for evaluating name change applications. A parallel effort, the Diverse Names and Narratives Project, seeks to more visibly honor and celebrate notable individuals from the institution’s history, with a particular emphasis on those from historically marginalized and underrepresented groups. And two historical research projects – the Reexamining Hopkins History initiative and the Hard Histories at Hopkins project – explore the role that racism and discrimination have played at the institution throughout its history.

The NRB is comprised of more than 50 representatives from Johns Hopkins and the university’s alumni community, which numbers nearly 260,000 members. The group reviews requests for buildings, features and programs at Hopkins through a thorough, deliberative, multi-step process culminating in submission to JHU President Ron Daniels and the Board of Trustees for approval. The NRB can take several steps: keep the name as is; retain the name, but either move the named entity or add relevant interpretive information (contextualization); retain the name, but recommend that institutional leaders repair community harms associated with the name through investment or other material means beyond contextualization; or recommend removing the name.