The University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to remove the name of former Reds owner Marge Schott from two campus facilities.
The board approved removing Marge Schott's name from the school's baseball stadium and a space in the university's archives library, effective immediately.
"We, the Board of Trustees, want to say, unequivocally, we stand with President Pinto and our campus community in our collective fight to end racism, inequality and indifference," the resolution states. "The change we want to see starts with us."
As previously reported by NPR's Tom Goldman:
"Former UC baseball player Jordan Ramey started a petition drive to change the name of Marge Schott Stadium.
"Schott owned Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds from 1984 to 1999. To say she was controversial is an understatement. Her racial and ethnic slurs against African American, Jewish and Japanese people prompted a one-year ban from baseball in 1993. After publicly praising Adolf Hitler in a 1996 ESPN interview, Schott was forced to give up day-to-day control of the Reds until 1998.
"Schott also was known as a philanthropist in Cincinnati — she gave money, through her foundation, to the city zoo, hospitals and the university. In 2006, the Bearcats named their baseball stadium after Schott, following a foundation gift of $2 million to the school's athletic programs."
The board resolution states trustees agree with President Pinto's "assessment that Marge Schott’s record of racism and bigotry stands at odds with University’s core commitment to dignity, equity and inclusion. We further agree that attempts to modify the name and its detrimental effects would be ineffective."
The Marge & Charles J. Schott Foundation issued the following statement June 11:
"Over the past week, there has been public discussion about major financial gifts with naming rights from the Marge & Charles J. Schott Foundation to community organizations as it relates to the current conversation around racial equality.
"While we cannot make excuses for the rhetoric made by Mrs. Schott decades ago, we can ask you to learn from Mrs. Schott’s mistakes as well as her great love for Cincinnati.
"We appreciate what these great organizations bring to Cincinnati and we fully support the decisions made by the organizations who have received grants from the Foundation.
"We will continue to support the Cincinnati community and the important work of our charities and non-profits."
This story was updated to add the statement from the Schott Foundation.
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