The Boston University alumnus who created a petition to change the name of the school’s mascot, Rhett, was invited to serve on the committee to consider the matter. After a correspondence with President Robert Brown, during which the alum refused to take down his petition, he was denied a seat.
This decision was made on the basis that continuing to publicly advocate for the name change would impede Arcangelo Cella’s ability to participate in the deliberative process of the committee.
Cella said he “resent[s]” the doubt in his ability to remain impartial while supporting a certain side of an argument, given he was trained at BU’s School of Law.
“Having that questioned, simply because I take a stance on something, and possibly a stance that might be problematic for BU,” Cella said, “I thought was unwarranted, inappropriate and frankly offensive.”
BU Spokesperson Colin Riley said the decision was a result of Cella’s position as an advocate.
“You want the committee members to be a body that can consider all the issues,” Riley said. “If you have a strongest advocate, then maybe your views wouldn’t be represented and heard by the committee.”
Brown announced in an email to the BU community July 1 the formation of a committee that would advise him in deciding whether the nickname Rhett, which holds ties to a racist character in “Gone With the Wind,” should be retired.
Cella expressed interest in serving on the committee in a July 1 email to Brown, and received an official invitation from Brown July 10.
In an email sent Thursday to Megan Cohen, executive assistant to Brown and staff liaison for the BU Mascot Committee, Cella wrote that he intends to keep his petition live until a decision is made.
“If my continued advocacy will be incompatible with service on the committee, or if I will be required to sign any agreement that would preclude my continued public advocacy, I will be forced to decline,” Cella wrote.
Brown wrote in a July 17 letter to Cella that, in order to maintain an openness to ideas and discussion among members, he would no longer be appointed to the committee.
“When we constitute a committee our hope is that it will be deliberative, i.e., that all committee members participate with a willingness to listen and consider arguments,” Brown wrote. “Based on your stated position, which I respect, I believe it is best that we recuse you from this service and recruit a new nominee.”
Cella said Brown’s response raises concerns regarding who might serve on the committee.
“If believing that the name should be changed disqualifies you from service,” Cella said, “then who is going to be on this committee and how open are they to actually hearing all sides of the issue?”
Riley said the “natural way” to seat a jury is for all members to come in with their varying personal opinions, but that all sides will be heard by the committee.
“There will be different viewpoints represented, including Arcangelo’s, so I don’t think there should be any concern on that end as an individual,” Riley said. “That view not only will be represented but presented and heard by the committee.”
Cella wrote to Cohen July 21, stating his disagreement with the decision.
“As President Brown noted, a committee member’s personal convictions do not necessarily impact their ability to serve,” Cella wrote. “As a result, it is difficult not to feel gaslighted by the President’s decision. I am disheartened, to say the least.”
As the Cleveland Indians, Washington Redskins and several U.S. high schools currently look into their own mascot name changes in light of ongoing conversations on racism, Cella said he believes BU has a “moral obligation” to change Rhett’s name.
“And yet, BU is somehow holding on to this, or at least leaving themselves room to hang on to it if they would like to,” Cella said. “I don’t think they really have any more of an excuse than anyone else.”
Riley said Brown convened the committee to look at the issue. A decision, he said, will be made through the committee exploring all viewpoints.
“There’s no predetermined outcome,” Riley said. “I think a number of those perspectives have been forwarded by [Cella].”
The BU Mascot Committee anticipates its first meeting to be the week of July 27, Cohen wrote to Cella.
After all the publicity this has garnered, the petition hasn’t even gotten up to 700 signatures yet. This shows how little support there is in the BU community for changing the name.
With a global pandemic still raging, a world on the brink of financial ruin, thousands of untreatable diseases yet unsolved, massive illiteracy and innumeracy all over the world, poverty, war, totalitarianism, and at at least 100,000 more important problems that I could think of, off the top of my head, for BU to work on, can someone please kindly explain to me why renaming Rhett (can I even still use that name?) has been prioritized? Is this sort of frou-frou really the best way to combat racism? I can only imagine what John Silber would have thought of this nonsensical waste of time. Doesn’t anyone think deeply or read important books anymore at BU?