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Two student organizations, the Generational African American Students Association of Harvard and Natives at Harvard College, created a petition to dename John Winthrop House, an undergraduate dorm that boasts a history of alumni including John F. Kennedy.
"John Winthrop House is named after two individuals whose ideas and actions would be abhorrent today," read an Instagram post by the two organizations. "Both of the Winthrops' commitments to upholding racial oppression and chattel slavery taint their legacies. Their actions are antithetical to the evolving culture at Harvard."
The process of denaming is distinctly reserved for "a possible change related to the perception that a namesake’s actions or beliefs were “abhorrent” in the context of current values," which is different from other instances of naming or re-naming, according to a university report.
The dorm's two namesakes are John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the great, great grandson of Governor Winthrop also named John Winthrop, a Harvard professor who is regarded as the first American astronomer and who served as President of Harvard, according to the university's website that describes the dorm's history.
The website has no mention of the two men's involvement in America's legacy of enslavement.
A report, called " The Legacy of Slavery at Harvard" and written by a group of leading Harvard researchers, was published in September 2022. The report catalogs many of John Winthrop's actions that are not mentioned in Harvard's brief biography of the man.
"Winthrop himself enslaved the wife of a Pequot sachem and her two children in what he seems to have regarded as an act of Christian benevolence, reciprocity for her protection of two captured English girls," the report said.
The descendent of Governor John Winthrop, the professor Winthrop also owned slaves, the report says.
"On a single page of his 1759 Ames Almanack, Professor Winthrop notes the death of his enslaved “negro man George,” read the report.
Winthrop noted the "negro man George" was 24 years old when he died. Winthrop estimated that his replacement for George was eight and a half years old.
Harvard University created a process for de-naming university buildings in October 2020, prompted by Harvard president Larry Bacow.
"While naming buildings and other objects at Harvard is a common occurrence, removing such names should be an extraordinary one," wrote Bacow.
"As the report rightly notes, “denaming decisions are likely to be complex,” Bacow said of the report regarding the committee to de-name buildings. "The related process for making them should be “careful, painstaking, and laborious,” and it “should not be undertaken lightly.” When a particular request passes a rigorous threshold and is deemed to warrant a full review, it should proceed with the understanding that, while naming buildings and other objects at Harvard is a common occurrence, removing such names should be an extraordinary one."
Faculty deans Stephen N. Chong and Kiran Gajwani acknowledged the petition and said that a series of discussions would take place about the topic, according to Harvard's student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson.
The Instagram post announcing the petition has almost 200 likes.
"Keep up the pressure," one commenter wrote.
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