By: Tristan Hill
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) — As the use of the names and likenesses of Senator J. William Fulbright and Governor Charles Hilman Brough, two notable Arkansas segregationists, remains a hot-button issue on the University of Arkansas campus, students plan to band together to make their voices heard by administration and the community alike.
The University of Arkansas Black Student Caucus plans to hold a march across campus in protest of the University’s continued association with Fulbright and Brough.
The event will start in front of Fulbright Cafeteria at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, March 13 and students and community members are expected to march to Gearhart hall, taking their message across campus.
“For too long we’ve been given half hearted affirmations, performative initiatives, and mission statements,” Caucus student officials said in a prepared statement.
The controversy surrounding these figures is nothing new. A change.org petition challenging the U of A to remove Fulbright’s name and statue at Old Main has been garnering signatures online for two years.
In that time, it has racked up the support and signatures of over 6,000 people.
“The University of Arkansas’ support of this figure is disrespectful to all the students and faculty who continue to fight against oppression,” LeRoi David, a signer of the petition, said.
The movement to reevaluate the University’s association with the two figures has made its way to administration as well.
In August of 2020 the U of A reported that Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz created a committee, “to evaluate J. William Fulbright and Charles Brough’s presence on our campus.”
Since that time, no further plans regarding the statue or either of the politicians’ names have been announced.