Earlier this year, Princeton University renamed buildings named after President Woodrow Wilson because of his racist policies and beliefs. Syracuse University should do the same and rename at least two buildings named after chancellors Charles Flint and William Graham. Their histories of racist and anti-Semitic policies provide the greatest reasons not to honor their legacies by adorning Flint Hall and Graham Dining Center with their names.

Bigotry at SU goes back 100 years, and it is time for SU administration to own up to the college’s history. SU has a history of intolerance and rampant hate against religious and racial minorities, as well as a legacy of misogyny.

Both Flint and Graham made attempts to reduce the number of Jewish students on campus to 7% of the student population in keeping with the admissions policy outlined by then-Director of Admissions Frank Bryant, who argued that reducing the percent of Jewish students to below 10% “would be one of the strongest factors in securing the type of student we want.” When Syracuse Jews recommended a Jewish studies program at the university, Graham told Rabbi George Hyman he would “not tolerate Jewish studies at the University” under any circumstances.

Neither chancellor did anything to combat the anti-Semitism and racism of college organizations, fraternities and sororities. The editor-in-chief of The Daily Orange in the early 1920s advocated for quotas on Jewish student admissions alongside other students from the student government. Some campus organizations barred Jews, Catholics and African Americans. Flint and Graham supported this bigotry and refused requests to intervene. In addition, 200 students and faculty belonged to the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and, on occasion, burned crosses in the neighboring graveyard.

Both supported racist admission policies that limited African Americans’ ability to attend SU as well. Graham believed African American students were inferior. They both changed application forms to include photos and questions about race to single out African Americans to reject. They supported housing policies that used quotas on the assignment of housing to Jewish women and barred all African American women and most African American males from university residences. Although SU required women to live in university residences, Flint and Graham made an exception for African American women.

In the 1930s, SU also discriminated against African American athletes. For example, Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, a star basketball and football player, was benched when southern teams demanded it. Graham wanted to expel Sidat-Singh but was persuaded not to do so because of the bad publicity. New York Age, an African American newspaper, wrote that “Syracuse humiliated him and all colored students by benching him,” and told its readers to write Graham to express their displeasure.

Additionally, women were limited in admission to the journalism program because of the fear that too many female students would ruin the reputation of the program. Flint and Graham believed that too many women attending SU would feminize the college, so the admission policy in the 1930s was to admit less qualified males to retain a gender quota and reject qualified, female students.

All of this I wrote about academically in the American Jewish Archives and the History of Higher Education Annual, using access to restricted university records and correspondences during my time as an SU instructor.

There are many alternatives to Flint and Graham to name SU’s buildings after. The university could rename Flint Hall after David Ifshin, an SU student and president of the National Student Association in 1970 who led anti-Vietnam War protests at SU and in Hanoi. Ifshin was Jewish, an appropriate replacement for the anti-Semitic Flint.

Since Graham discriminated against African Americans and wanted to expel Sidat-Singh, SU should also rename Graham Dining Hall after the star athlete, who served in the Tuskegee Airmen and died in service at 25. Both of these men are great examples of SU’s values, much more than the two former chancellors.

It’s time to dump Flint and Graham — they were bigots and do not represent the values of SU. The time is now to stop honoring bigots. I call on all students and faculty to reject the anti-Semitism, racism and misogyny of Flint and Graham.

Harvey Strum

B.A. History and International Relations, ‘70

Masters in Public Administration, ‘76

Ph.D. History, ‘78

SU Instructor 1981 to 1987

Published on September 1, 2020 at 8:57 pm