Rev. John I. Jenkins plans to appoint a committee to make recommendations about next steps following a statement he issued Jan. 20 about an administrative decision that quickly became a national controversy.
Painted by Luigi Gregori from 1882-84 on walls in the ceremonial entrance to the main building, the murals “reflect the attitudes of the time and were intended as a didactic presentation, responding to cultural challenges for the school’s largely immigrant, Catholic population,” Jenkins wrote to the campus community. “In recent years, however, many have come to see the murals as at best blind to the consequences of Columbus’s voyage for the indigenous peoples who inhabited this ‘new’ world and at worst demeaning toward them.”
Dr. Carol Delaney
Citing feedback from students, alumni, faculty, staff, Native Americas and others, Jenkins said he consulted with the university’s board of fellows and decided on “a course that will preserve the murals, but will not display them regularly in their current location.”
The murals will be covered with woven material that will allow them to be displayed on occasion. A permanent display of high-resolution images of them will be placed somewhere on campus conducive to “informed and careful consideration,” Jenkins said.
Although a brochure explaining the events depicted in the murals has been available to passersby since the 1990s, Jenkins said, the hallway is so highly trafficked that “it is not well suited for a thoughtful consideration of these paintings and the context of their composition.”
