Petition Wants Woodrow Wilson Elementary In New Brunswick Renamed

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — This petition is circulating online to change the name of Woodrow Wilson elementary school in New Brunswick, and so far 299 people have signed it.

This comes the same time the board of Monmouth University in Long Branch unanimously voted last week to remove the name of former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson from its main campus building, Wilson Hall. The Monmouth U. board took the vote last Friday, Juneteenth; slavery officially ended in the United States on that date in 1865 when the Union Army reached Texas, a slavery hold-out.

Woodrow Wilson Elementary sits on Tunison Road in New Brunswick; it houses about 450 K-8th grade students. The petition will be presented to the New Brunswick Board of Education.

Wilson was the 28th president of the United States, serving in office from 1913 to 1921. He was responsible for overseeing the racial segregation of many federal offices. For example, under Wilson's tenure, he segregated the U.S. Navy, creating separate work spaces, restrooms and cafeterias for white and black Naval servicemen. He also kept segregation intact in the U.S. Army as the U.S. entered World War I in 1917.

Wilson's policies were not challenged by any members of Congress at the time. He argued that segregation reduced "friction" between white and black Americans, according to his Wikipedia page.

There was also a small protest held Tuesday evening outside the New Brunswick Board of Education: About 25 people gathered to call on the board to remove the name, according to TAP Into New Brunswick.

Woodrow Wilson's history in New Jersey

Wilson has strong New Jersey roots and that is why many buildings in the state bear his name:

Before he became a U.S. president, he was president of Princeton University. In November 2016, Princeton University students held a 32-hour sit in, demanding the school remove Woodrow Wilson's name from its buildings and school of international studies. So far, Princeton has refused. Princeton's highly regarded Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs retains that name to this day.

At Monmouth University in Long Branch, Wilson Hall is built on the site of what used to be his Jersey Shore summer home. As the Long Branch Patch reported last week, Wilson Hall will now be renamed "the Great Hall at Shadow Lawn."

Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden will also undergo a name change, the Camden Board of Education announced last week.

"The reason we name streets, parks, schools, and libraries after public figures is to commemorate their contributions to society. A person who deserves to be memorialized in such a way should not be opposed to the essential civic foundations of freedom and equality," read the petition. "Much to this example New Brunswick has just renamed a street in the honor of Paul Robeson where an elementary school shares his namesake.

"There are many great Americans whose name could better represent the promise of a New Brunswick education," it continued. "We believe that an educational institution located in a diverse and inclusive city like New Brunswick should not memorialize this man. A new more deserving and appropriate name of the school can be handled diplomatically by way of petition and/or vote. One thing for certain is that I think we can agree that it should not be named after Woodrow Wilson."

Related: Monmouth University Removes Woodrow Wilson's Name From Building (June 19, 2020)