Cal State Northridge: “CSUN Considers Renaming Oviatt Library After Students Claim Delmar T. Oviatt Was Racist”
From The Sundial (Student Media at CSUN):
A CSUN working group hosted a meeting Wednesday, allowing the campus community to weigh-in on the decision to change the name of CSUN’s Delmar T. Oviatt Library, after students accused former CSUN Interim President Delmar T. Oviatt, of being racist and an oppressive figure.
The Oviatt Library Name Working Group, established by President Dianne F. Harrison, is chaired by CSUN Vice President for Student Affairs, William Watkins.
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The group is investigating the history behind the library’s name and reviewing whether Oviatt’s actions as a leader contradict the current values of the university, according to Watkins. The group began its work in September 2019 after the CSUN Students of Color Coalition, which advocates for diversity on campus, published a letter containing six demands for the university, including the demand to rename the library in May 2019.
The Students of Color Coalition claims that Oviatt was unsupportive of ethnic studies departments during his tenure as interim president in the late 1960s and tried to silence minority student protesters who pushed for more diversity on campus.
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About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.
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