A motion to change the name of Columbus Day to Fall Weekend was approved at yesterday's faculty meeting, but not enough voting faculty members were present for the motion to officially pass. Therefore, the vote will need to be ratified at next month's meeting.
The University's Course Announcement Bulletin, which goes to press on Friday, will include Columbus Day in its academic calendar. But if the motion is approved, the holiday's name will be changed to Fall Weekend on all official online calendars.
Not changing the printed calendar is "unfortunate," but "we were pleased that we're moving forward in this process," Reiko Koyama '11, who spearheaded the movement to change the name, told The Herald. "I'm glad eventually it will be changed permanently."
According to the rules of faculty meetings, a quorum of 100 voting faculty members is needed to pass a motion. After the vote on the Columbus Day motion, a faculty member requested a quorum count, which indicated only 43 faculty members were present.
The movement to end the observance of Columbus Day at Brown reached the faculty meeting after supporters created a student petition and met with the Brown University Community Council, the Staff Advisory Committee and the Undergraduate Council of Students. The Faculty Executive Committee delayed a Feb. 10 vote on the motion but agreed to place a revised motion on the faculty meeting agenda at their Feb. 20 meeting.
The FEC did not unanimously vote to place the motion on the faculty meeting agenda and so did not officially endorse the motion one way or another, said Professor of Philosophy Jamie Dreier, chair of the FEC.
Koyama and Peter Hatch '11 answered questions from the faculty before the motion went to vote. They defended the name change as a first step in initiating broader awareness of Native American history and culture on campus. Many different names were considered for the holiday to replace Columbus Day, including Tomato Day and Indigenous People's Day, but Fall Weekend was decided on as a name that could "be celebrated by all," Koyama said at the meeting.
"Neutral and secular is really a positive step," Hatch told the faculty.
Since faculty meetings rarely achieve a quorum of 100 voting members, students will have to lobby faculty members to attend the next meeting if they want the vote to be ratified, Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98 told The Herald after the meeting.
