Students speak on Serra

Students gather to further the discussion on Serra Hall and it’s potential renaming

Paulina Sierra / Opinion Editor / The USD Vista

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, the United Front Multicultural Commons (UFMC) was full of around 50 people gathered to discuss one of USD’s hot-button topics: the controversiality behind the namesake of Serra Hall.

Led by the American Indian Student Organization (AISO), this next installment of the “Speak on It!” series aimed to foster conversation on the impact of having a building named after Serra, and the possibility of having it renamed.

The event began with an acknowledgement that this meeting was taking place on colonized Kumeyaay land, and then transitioned to the greater discussion of who Father Junipero Serra was.

Father Junipero Serra was a Catholic priest who started the construction of the California missions, a system of establishments that aimed to convert the indigenous people to Catholicism, often via violent means, and claim the land on behalf of Spain.

Senior PJ Murphy, president of AISO, discussed the harm that the mission system did to the indigenous people of California.

“With the mission system, they forced Natives into it to convert (them),” Murphy said. “The image of him is of a man who brought a genocide onto the Native people.”

Junior Gabe Fallis, a student leader in AISO, discussed the impact of memorializing such a figure as Serra on campus.

“It serves as a symbol to current Native students that the ethnic genocide that happened, the mission system (that) was built on the backs of Native people doesn’t matter,” Fallis said.

Some of those in support of Serra remaining on campus argue that while Serra initiated the missions, he did not run them, and is therefore not to blame for the specific injustices that occurred at the individual missions. Fallis, however, is not convinced.

“He had the power, and he didn’t use it to stop,” Fallis said. “He saw the rapes and brutality in San Diego, and he went all the way up to San Francisco. He saw there was a problem, and he did nothing to stop them. It didn’t matter how many lives were lost.”

Discussion soon rose regarding why the university has not moved to remove Serra. Stanford University, which renamed their bicycle mall, dormitories, and a small academic building, but chose to keep Serra Street, back in September did it with little backlash from the community.

Students like sophomore Alanah Winston, an attendee, brought up the fact that Serra Hall was funded by donors who specified their desire to have the hall named after Serra, and specified in the contract that the university could not change the name in the future.

Other students, like junior Carolina Moreno, discussed the fact that changing the name of the hall would require the university to take a definitive stance on an issue, which it is prone not to do so as to not alienate donors or students on either side of the spectrum.

“It’s really hard for us as students to get a stance from USD, and it’s really hard to see that transparency,” Moreno said. “I wish and hope that USD will do better.”

After discussions with the larger group, the room was divided into three groups, all discussing the issue from different angles: the way it impacts culture, the way it impacts gender, and the way it impacts race.

In the conversation surrounding gender, AISO discussed the impact of their plans on the representation of women on campus. Their goal is to rename Serra Hall to Kateri Hall. St. Kateri is an indigenous Catholic saint who was canonized in 2012, three years before Serra was canonized.

Gabe Fallis noted the fact that most of the visible statues on campus are of men, and that changing the name of Serra Hall to Kateri Hall, and erecting a statue of her would not only mean something to the indigenous students on campus, but to the women on campus as well.

“Women of color are not represented on this campus,” Fallis said. “This change would fall under the mission of diversity the university claims to have.”

Murphy, discussing the way this impacts culture, emphasized the fact that this move is not meant to try to ignore the prominent figures of the past, but to acknowledge those who merit acknowledgement.

“We’re not trying to change the past, we’re trying to move forward from it,” Murphy said.

While the conversation was full of vocal opinions, there was a notable lack of voices who opposed the move. While no vocal comments were made, several students who had not spoken, at a particular shift in the event, walked out. The vocal part of the room was in support, but not all of campus is- signaling that the conversation around Serra Hall is far from over.