California state of San Marcos strips building of founder’s name over controversial past

The late State Senator William Anderson Craven was a longtime public servant. He served in the military, on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, and for 20 years in the State Senate.

But his greatest achievement was the creation of his own university in the Northern District: California State University San Marcos (CUSM).

In April 1993, Craven Hall was named after a senator due to his role in founding the university.

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From the archives of California State University San Marcos.

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California State University San Marcos Special Collections, University Library

Senator William Anderson Craven poses next to his bust in 1992.

But this dedication caused controversy due to comments he made two months earlier.

“There are many people who will disagree with what I am about to say, and this is just my thought. It’s not philosophy, Craven said during a hearing on border issues. “It seems rather strange that we go out of our way to take care of the rights of these people who are perhaps on the lowest scale of our humanity for one reason or another.”

For this comment, he was accused of racism towards undocumented immigrants.

But just this year, university officials voted to remove the late senator’s name and bust from Craven Hall.

The vote came after the task force had spent 18 months researching, meeting and discussing changes.

Task Force Craven, led by CSUSM President Ellen Neufeldt, had the following four tasks:

  1. Locate and objectively document historical records of William A. Craven’s statements and actions as they relate to his past leadership roles and ties to CSUSM, our region, and our state.

  2. Analyze and create a common understanding of contemporary issues related to the name of William A. Craven and his legacy.

  3. Develop opportunities for open and informed discussion with the internal and external campus community on the issue at hand as it relates to our institutional mission and values.

  4. Based on the results of the learning and information gathering process, state the potential implications of retaining, replacing, or contextualizing the name and presentation of William A. Craven in CSUSM with supporting evidence and arguments.

The task force’s final report noted that its members “represented a wide range of viewpoints and viewpoints and did not reflect a unified view of historical understanding or characterization of the senator’s words and actions.”

“It was a lot of work. I think people struggled,” said Patricia Prado-Olmos, one of the co-chairs of the task force. “They struggled to reconcile what they learned, how they heard very different points of view, and think about……what was right or best to help the campus, students, faculty, and staff move forward.”

Elizabeth Matthews, another co-chair, said the task force heard from the senator’s family and friends.

“This is an emotional and difficult question. There’s definitely pain there,” Matthews said. “We have also heard from students and community members who have suffered. We have colleagues on this campus who have suffered for 30 years because of this. It took a lot of emotional work.”

Senator Craven’s daughter, Trisha Craven Worley, said the decision to remove his name was emotional for his family and supporters. She said that her father devoted his life to the university.

“He did it specifically for the people who now inhabit the university. More than 50% of them are Hispanics. That is what he meant. If that’s what he meant, why are they removing his name? This is so wrong,” she said.

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Craven Hall at California State University San Marcos on February 16, 2023

Craven died in 1999. He defended his comments by saying they were taken out of context.

“My father never apologized because he never said anything bad,” said Craven Worley. “What he said was an assumption, not a statement. Because “maybe” means “maybe, well, maybe, well, what do I think, maybe they are at a lower level of humanity” at the hearings on economics.

Craven’s name isn’t the first to be removed from a school building or city monument. But Craven Worley said that if the past is to be remembered today, then, frankly, it should be mentioned for every statue immortalized on campus.

Prado-Olmos said the process and decision supports the university’s mission and values.

“Is it fair to judge someone in the past by today’s values?” She said. “I think it’s kind of a false dichotomy because today’s values ​​existed in the past. They were simply not recognized and supported. At that time they were not part of the structures of politics and power. And everything can coexist.”

Senator Craven’s name and bust have not yet been removed. The university plans to discuss ways to honor the senator’s contribution in a different way.

But Craven’s daughter said that if his name wasn’t good enough to be on the building, she didn’t want it on campus at all.

“I want to take his papers and memorabilia from the library,” Craven Worley said. “I will demand that his scholarship that we have created be stopped and that the director be returned to the family for proper distribution, because, oh my god, would you like to receive a scholarship from a white supremacist? … If that’s the case, we don’t want to have anything to do with it.”

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