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{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
A<span style="color: Red;">*</span>dishwasher at Yale University who was arrested and no longer has a job after breaking a school window with a broomstick, has found himself in the unexpected role of hero.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
Corey Menafee, charged with second-degree misdemeanor of reckless endangerment and first-degree felony of criminal mischief, according to the New Haven Independent, broke a window in Yale’s Calhoun College residence hall<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in mid-June that showed slaves carrying bales of cotton in the fields. The school, in a statement sent to USA TODAY College, said that Menafee had resigned.
But<span style="color: Red;">*</span>between his arrest and his courthouse appearance — where he did not enter a plea — Menafee has received a wave of support for his actions.
Corey Menafee says he wasn't looking to be dubbed a hero but he's glad his actions weren't in vain. pic.twitter.com/iSuAeK3sGQ
— Wes Duplantier (@breaking203) July 12, 2016
Social media lit up in support, dozens protested in front of the courthouse on Tuesday in his defense, students are speaking out, and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>GoFundMe campaign that has so far raised almost $3,000 is growing fast.
Donate $$ to the man Yale fired for breaking the effed up Calhoun College stained glass window celebrating slavery: https://t.co/es67nxht9x
— Moira Weigel (@moiragweigel) July 12, 2016
Rally today at 9am for black worker fired by Yale for removing pane of slaves picking cotton. Superior Ct 121 Elm St.https://t.co/pkycvVJh3k
— Kica Matos (@KicaMatos) July 12, 2016
About 30 people, of all different backgrounds, were out on Elm Street in #nhv for today's protest. pic.twitter.com/jcQQlLILjm
— Wes Duplantier (@breaking203) July 12, 2016
“I’m glad that (Menafee) did it. Yale’s crime — continuing to display racist images that made student and staff uncomfortable — was far worse than his,” says Fish Stark, a rising senior at Yale. “I think everyone agrees that vandalism is wrong, but vandalizing something that is racist and degrading is a lesser evil than displaying that racist thing. … While he broke a rule, he helped far more people than he hurt.”
What Menafee did was a “service” to the community, says Yale alumnus Katherine Demby.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“That racist image is symbolic of the current racial hierarchy that exist between the Yale administration and its staff, who are mostly black and Latino, as well as the continue lack of concern for staff.”
The<span style="color: Red;">*</span>New Haven Independent<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reported that Menafee said he “wasn’t motivated by allegiance to student activists.”
“When I walked into this job, I wasn’t aware of none of that,” Menafee told the newspaper. “And then you know, being there, you start hearing different things. … I just said, ‘That thing’s coming down today. I’m tired of it. … It’s 2016, I shouldn’t have to come to work and see things like that.”
The stained-glass window was part of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Calhoun College, a resident hall<span style="color: Red;">*</span> bearing the name of John C. Calhoun, a senator from South Carolina, a proponent of slavery in the antebellum South and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a Yale graduate. Students and faculty had protested for years to change the name of the hall. In April, in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>an email<span style="color: Red;">*</span>sent to the university community by Yale President Peter Salovey, the school announced it will not rename the residential college.
“This decision — and the decision to keep Calhoun College — is unacceptable,” the Yale College Council wrote in a statement<span style="color: Red;">*</span>at the time.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“These are not the Yale values for which we stand. Yale can do better.”
The university’s statement on Manafee also noted that it “has requested that the State’s Attorney not press charges.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Yale is also not seeking restitution.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>As part of President Salovey’s initiative in April to review Yale’s history with regard to slavery, the Committee on Art in Public Spaces was charged to assess the windows in Calhoun and other art on campus.
“The Committee recommended in June that this window and some others be removed from Calhoun, conserved for future study and a possible contextual exhibition, and replaced with tinted glass for the time being.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> An artist specializing in stained glass will be commissioned to design new windows, with input from the Yale community, including students, on what should replace them.”
In July, Head<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of Calhoun College Julia Adams sent an email announcing changes to the building, reported Yale student newspaper the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Yale Daily News. According to the newspaper she wrote that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“stained-glass windows depicting Calhoun will be removed from the common room, and the college dining hall will be named after Roosevelt Thompson ‘84, a Calhoun alumnus whose record of public service and academic achievement made him a popular candidate for the renaming of the college.”
We just heard from Corey Menafee outside #nhv court. He did say a bit about what happened. https://t.co/BwIJD0aSe0
— Wes Duplantier (@breaking203) July 12, 2016
Contributor: Dixe Schillaci, Yale University
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