Write a response to the essay "Should We Rename Institutions that Honor Dead Racists?" by Regina Rini (in your textbook, pages 23-25). Your goal is to argue whether or not Rini has presented valid arguments for her point of view. You do not have to indicate whether you agree or not with her point of view; you only have to indicate whether or not she presents her argument well. If you think she successfully argues her point, you may still offer some criticism if you think any arguments are weak. Likewise, if your overall impression is that she doesn't present a valid argument, you can still point out whatever strengths you think her essay has. But your essay must clearly state whether your overall impression is positive or negative.
Your essay should be in MLA format (2.0 line spacing, 1" margins, 12-point type) and should be about a page-and-a-half to two pages in length.
Here are the textbook pages:
Regina Rini
Should we rename institutions that honor dead racists?
We all know what Juliet says about a rose: by any other name, it would smell as sweet. But we probably don’t remember why she says this, or what happens next. Juliet is lamenting that a certain young man happens to be called ‘Romeo Montague’, a name associated with her family’s dire enemies. Romeo then emerges from the shadows and insists that the name is ‘hateful to myself, because it is an enemy to thee’. He declares his moniker dispensable, under one condition: ‘Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptised; henceforth I never will be Romeo.’
What altered scent might emanate from a renamed Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs? The Princeton institution faces calls to drop its nominal affiliation with America’s 28th president, who was also governor of New Jersey, president of the university, and a horrible racist. Similarly, students at Yale have demanded a rebranding of Calhoun College, named after John Calhoun who championed ‘Indian removal’ and told the Senate that slavery was a ‘positive good’. And Georgetown University, my own alma mater, has agreed to strip the names of two Jesuit slave-sellers from campus buildings. Across the country, student Juliets are asking their administrator Romeos to be newly baptised.
And why not? It is reasonable to prefer not to live in a quadrangle named after a man who extolled the ‘positive good’ of your great-great-grandparents’ forced labour. It is reasonable to wish not to study in a place that honors a man who would have you keep to your own, segregated end of the lecture hall. For students of colour, living in a United States that preaches equality and practises something else, it is reasonable to expect an honest reckoning with our damaged patriarchs.