Native students grow frustrated as USD temporarily removes statue of Serra on campus

USD removed the statue at the orders of Archbishop Gomez, but Native students say they want to be included in the conversation

Celina Tebor / Editor in Chief

The presence of Saint Junípero Serra on campus, a Catholic saint known for establishing the California mission system that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Native Americans, has been a debate stretching back for years at the University of San Diego. The school lays on native Kumeyaay land.

The university renamed Serra Hall to Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall in spring of 2019, following years of on-campus opposition and pressure to change the name of the building, led by students in the American Indian Student Organization (AISO).

A statue of Serra behind the newly-renamed building remained after the name change. And then, in July of 2020, it disappeared. 

USD didn’t release a statement or provide a reason for the statue’s removal at the time. Administrators did not consult or communicate with the Associated Student Government nor AISO prior to the removal, according to student leaders in both organizations. 

Senior Joe Luker, vice chair of AISO, said he was disappointed by USD’s lack of communication about the removal.

“This was something that we’ve been asking for for a long time,” Luker said. “And for them just to do it out of the blue, it was just kind of shocking.”

After an inquiry about the removal, USD Senior Director of Media Relations Lissette Martinez explained the reasoning behind it in a statement.

“In response to a call from Archbishop Gomez, an outdoor statue of St. Junipero Serra on the University of San Diego campus was moved to temporary storage after several outdoor statues of the saint have been damaged in California,” the statement read. 

Junior Rhonda Papp is the incoming chair of AISO. She said the radio silence from the university led to confusion about the intentions of the statue’s removal at first. She knew the statue had been removed, but didn’t know why. 

When she read USD’s statement and discovered the statue had been removed at the orders of Archbishop Gomez, she was disappointed.

“It really felt kind of dismissive,” Papp said. “Kind of like a blanket statement of what would be required to say in that situation.”

With frustration mounting among Native students, AISO released a statement including a list of questions and recommendations to the university to “implement lasting changes for Native students.” Some of the recommendations included raising a statue of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha and hiring additional tenure-track Native American faculty members.

James T. Harris III, D.Ed. responded to AISO’s statement via email, which the organization published on social media. 

Harris said the original plan was to publish a story in his monthly newsletter at the end of July to explain the removal.

“In hindsight and under customary circumstances, we may have been more thoughtful about how we communicated our intentions,” part of the email read. 

Papp described the lack of communication from the university prior to the statue’s removal as “a slap in the face.”

“It’s really frustrating to hear from the administration that we didn’t even think about contacting you,” Papp said. “AISO has been a part of this conversation for a very long time, and (the statue’s removal) is something we’ve been asking for.”

Harris said planning for the fall semester during the COVID-19 pandemic caused him to not focus attention on how to best communicate USD’s decision, and that it was an oversight. 

“My hope is that all of the good work we have done to decolonize the campus and make the university more welcoming to our native students in recent years will be able to be continued,” the email read. Harris cited renaming Serra Hall and other buildings as well as hanging up a tapestry of Saint Tekakwitha as examples of doing so.

Papp and Luker voiced other ways they believe USD can help Native students, such as a physical space for Native students on campus and more outreach to tribes in California. Luker grew up on Pechanga Reservation, and said he struggled with the adjustment of coming to USD.

“When you come to USD, you can tell that there’s hardly anyone here that looks like you or has the same experience as you,” Luker said. “It’s kind of hard to connect with people. You kind of just try to blend in, and it just kind of hurts.”

Luker said he’s tired of Serra being a constant topic of conversation on campus. He doesn’t want the statue to be put back days, months, or years from now — he wants it permanently removed, and recognition of how harmful Serra is to Native students.

Papp and Luker are both Catholic themselves, and emphasized that their wishes aren’t to disrupt USD’s Catholic roots, but to respect Native students.

“We understand both sides,” Luker said. “I grew up Catholic and I just want the Catholic church to recognize me as a native Catholic student on campus. It doesn’t feel like they really care, and that’s why it’s frustrating.”

Martinez said she did not have information at this time on when the statue could be moved out of storage.