Letter to the EditorLuther West is not blameless – North Wind Online

Dr. Luther West a former Northern Michigan University biology professor who openly supported the promotion of conservative eugenic legislation and eugenic administration in the 1920s is a wholly blameless person. At least, thats what Philip Niswonger seems to argue in his recent letter to the editor. But his letter to the editor is entirely unconvincing, as it solely consists of a series of nonsensical non sequiturs.

According to Niswonger, NMUs radical decision to even consider renaming a university building that currently bears Wests name illustrates the universitys intention to unjustly ruin Wests professional reputation. He further argues that Wests views on eugenics were largely consistent with those of his professional contemporaries.

While Wests views may have been consistent with many, if not a majority, of his professional contemporaries, those views were not unanimously held. As Time Magazines Paul Gray noted more than two decades ago, a number of people including G.K. Chesterton, H.L. Mencken, Walter Lippmann and Clarence Darrow had ridiculed and debunked eugenic theories prior to the Second World War. And while the popularity of the eugenics movement in the United States influenced most states to initially enact their own compulsory sterilization laws, various appellate courts ruled that these laws were unconstitutional prior to Buck v. Bell the Supreme Courts infamous 1927 decision which approved of such laws, opining that [t]hree generations of imbeciles are enough.

In any event, the purpose of naming a public building after someone is to commemorate that person both their achievements and shortfalls. When a community makes a decision to publicly celebrate someone in this manner, its choice is a reflection of the communitys collective values.

On the one hand, West served as head of NMUs biology department, and later as dean of the universitys College of Arts and Sciences. Those are certainly significant achievements.

On the other hand, West appeared to have no qualms about embracing scientific racism before coming to NMU. For example, he voluntarily attended the Third Race Betterment Conference, where he contributed an academic paper on eugenics. After arriving at NMU, West continued to promote eugenics as a biology professor, teaching a class called Genetics and Eugenics until at least the 1940s.

As a university community, we must ask ourselves whether we want to continue publicly venerating West, someone who was a proud supporter of eugenics in his professional life and as far as we know, never publicly disavowed those views and appeared comfortable with scientific racism, just because he held important leadership positions at NMU. We should also ask ourselves what our answer to that question reveals about ourselves, and the values we hold dear.

-Aaron Loudenslager, former North Wind opinion editor 2012

Editors Note: The North Wind is committed to offering a free and open public forum of ideas, publishing a wide range of viewpoints to accurately represent the NMU student body. This piece is a letter to the editor, written by a reader of the North Wind in response to North Wind content. It expresses the personal opinions of the individual writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of the North Wind. The North Wind reserves the right to avoid publishing letters that do not meet the North Winds publication standards. To submit a letter to the editor contact the opinion editor at [emailprotected]with the subject North Wind Letter.

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Letter to the EditorLuther West is not blameless - North Wind Online