Princeton University is the latest place where students are protesting against racism. What is the problem? Well it seems that they want Woodrow Wilson’s name removed completely from the school, wherever it appears, be it a building or a program.

As of this time they are holding an old fashioned sit-in at Nassau Hall as a way to pressure the university. They already have gotten the concession that leaders of the six residential colleges where students live on campus will no longer will be called ‘Masters’, the faculty members  will instead be called ‘Head of College’. The only problem with this is that Master comes from the Latin which means teacher and the students’ ignorance is shocking, these are Princeton University students after all.

While I feel that the students have the right to protest, they do not have the right to break the law! Occupying a building that belongs to a private university is the wrong thing to do. This is a strong arm tactic that should not be used to get your point either across or as a way of forcing change. Change must come about though the use of persuasion that is based on rational thought, not via a show of force. To use force or the occupation of property devalues your argument(s).

The use of force is a tactic that should only be used when all else has failed, but with the proviso that it does not escalate into violence. Remember that Dr. Martian Luther King, Jr. championed the use of non-violent protest and it worked very well for him. I think that the university’s letting the students get their way with the removal of the use of the term ‘Master’ was shameful. There was no intellectual discourse to explain to the protestors that they are mistaken and need to reevaluate how they arrived at their objection in ignorance.

Now I must say that the protestors are correct in their of objection that Wilson’s name should no longer have any raised status above others, that is his name should be removed from buildings and programs. President Wilson unfortunately was a racist who believed that black people should not elevated to the same status as white people.

As both President of Princeton and of the United States he advocated and allowed the creation of separate bathrooms, eating places, etc for black people. He was the architect of the League of Nations and a member of the progressive movement of his time. So he was not all evil, just mistaken in the fact that the color of your skin should not make a difference in how you are treated.

I hope that the leaders of this movement will come to realize that they must first completely understand what their objections are based on and not use incomplete or incorrect facts to press their point(s) home.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike