June 27, 2024
In 2020, the Linfield Board of Trustees approved removing the name of A.M. Brumback from a campus street. In 2021, the street name was changed from Brumback Street to Lakamas Lane. Brumback was a former Linfield president. The board cited the fact that as a Linfield science professor he had stolen Native American artifacts.
After that happened, hopefully the board would recommend removing the name of William G. Everson, a former Linfield president, from a campus street.
In Everson’s presidency, 1939-1943, during World War II, he was chairman of the Oregon Enemy Alien Hearing Board, which conducted hearings for non-citizen Japanese residents of Oregon who were detained as possible security risks and made determinations as to whether their detainments should continue.
Everson played a:
- “role in the
unjust incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, despite a
lack of evidence against them.”
- “significant and
often adversarial role in the incarceration of Japanese Americans and
other ‘enemy aliens’ during WWII, rather than being a mere formality.”
The board has taken no action to remove his name from the street. I there still have hope it will?
Linfield University renames street in honor of Native American first food
Smoke Signals
is the independent Tribal newspaper of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
07.08.2021 Danielle
Harrison Culture, Tribal employees
PHOTO: Linfield University Facilities Department employee Darrell Driver recently erected a new street sign after the school decided to rename a street that was named after a former science professor who stole Native American burial artifacts. The new name, Lakamas, means “camas,” which is a traditional Native American first food. (Photo by Timothy Sofranko, Linfield photographer)
By Danielle Harrison Smoke Signals staff writer
McMINNVILLE -- After learning that a private two-block street on its campus was named after a former science professor who had stolen Native American burial artifacts, Linfield University chose to right a wrong.
In
November 2020, the Board of Trustees recommended removing the name of A.M.
Brumback from the campus street and creating a commission to discuss
replacement names.
The
committee, which included students, faculty and staff, invited Cultural
Resources Department Manager David Harrelson to join the group in proposing a
new name centered on the Indigenous people who had been there since time
immemorial. Specifically, Linfield University is located on what is the
traditional territory of the “Yam Hill” band of the Kalapuya people.
The
committee considered six possible names and unanimously voted to support
Lakamas Lane as the new street name.
“It
has been a privilege to support members of the renaming committee … with this
effort,” Harrelson wrote in a letter to Linfield University President Miles K.
Davis. “Their commitment to learning and inclusion was always at the forefront
of our conversations. After much thoughtful deliberation, the committee has
selected Lakamas Lane. I am writing to enthusiastically support the
recommendation of the committee to rename Brumback Street to Lakamas Lane.
“Lakamas
is the Chinuk Wawa name for the blue-flowered camas plant that was and
continues to be an important food of our people. At the time of early
Euro-American settlement of the Willamette Valley, camas was so thick in areas
that the patches of blooming flowers were confused as lakes from a distance.
This name honors the people and lifeways of the Kalapuya people who are the
Indigenous people of the Willamette Valley.”
While
the word “lacamas” exists in other parts of the Pacific Northwest, such as
Lacamas Lake in Clark County, Wash., “lakamas” is unique to Chinuk Wawa and
makes Linfield University the only place in the world where one can find
Lakamas Lane.
The
Board of Trustees unanimously approved the name change at its May 1 meeting.
Since then, signage has been updated and all students living on campus will
have their mail delivered to the new address.
“David
was instrumental in providing leadership, guidance and knowledge, and was
generous with his time,” a committee statement said. “His willingness to engage
with the university in this renaming effort has led us to envision a fruitful
and collaborative future between Linfield and the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde.”
Linfield’s
McMinnville campus also is home to large remnant patches of camas that, under
intentional management, thrive around Cozine Creek.
Includes information
from Linfield News.
PHOTO: Brumback Street on the Linfield campus in McMinnville
PHOTO: The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon, Jan. 6, 1942
PHOTO: The Capital Journal, Salem, Oregon, Feb. 23, 1942
PHOTO: The Roseburg, Oregon, News-Review, Feb. 25, 1942
PHOTO: The Missoulian, Missoula, Montana, Feb. 2, 1942
