Princeton Seminary Students Call For Renaming Miller Chapel

PRINCETON, NJ — The Association of Black Seminarians (ABS) has called on Princeton Theological Seminary to remove Samuel Miller’s name from the chapel, due to his ties to slavery. The students plan a demonstration on Tuesday, 2 p.m. The demonstration is open to the public.

The ABS also shared a petition calling on the institution to rename the chapel, which has received close to 300 signatures.

“The space designed for spiritual reflection, Godly worship, and community building stands to this day bearing the name of a former enslaver and perverter of the gospel,” the petition said. "According to Miller’s son, Miller did not see the sinful nature of slavery. This spiritual disconnection still persists on our campus."

Miller, the second professor at the Seminary, was a native of Delaware who joined the Seminary in 1813. According to Princeton Seminary’s Slavery Audit report, Miller “employed slave labor in his lifetime, including while he lived in Princeton.”

Many students refuse to attend service at the chapel “because of their deep conviction of spiritual integrity that does not allow them to worship in a place bearing the name of a slaveholder.”

Apart from calling for the removal of Miller’s name from the Chapel, students have asked the President and the chair of the Board of Trustees to immediately establish "a renaming process for all buildings on campus named after people tied to slavery.”

According to ABS, the Board of Trustees will discuss the issue at their next meeting on Jan. 25.

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