Research Unveils Painful Act of Racism in Whitworth's History

Oct. 6, 2022

Dear Whitworth community,
 
The Racial Restrictive Covenants Project* research team at Eastern Washington University, led by Lawrence Cebula, Ph.D., recently notified Whitworth that it discovered documents revealing that in 1942 property owned by Whitworth College was sold to build a residential neighborhood named "Whitworth College Homes." The plat included property covenants declaring, "No persons of any race other than the white race shall use or occupy any building on these premises, except … occupancy by domestic servants of a different race domiciled with owner or tenant."
 
We are grateful for the careful work of the Racial Restrictive Covenants Project research team in uncovering this painful history in which our university played a role. We are deeply sorry that we participated in this racist practice, and we recognize it was a clear failure to live up to our mission to honor God, follow Christ and serve humanity. This reprehensible practice of racial exclusion speaks to a reservoir of racism that has been a part of our nation's past and still exists today. Racial covenants like these communicated support for a racial hierarchy in which people outside of the white race were not deemed worthy of full respect and moral value, were not granted freedom to live according to their own choosing, and whose very presence was viewed as defiling "white spaces." We condemn this racialized caste system. Whitworth's commitment to diversity is grounded in our foundational commitment to human flourishing, which is central to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our desire to become a more diverse, equitable and inclusive community stems from our desire to be faithful to the God who was "in Christ reconciling the world to himself."
 
Racial covenants brought about concrete material harm to people already marginalized and underserved in society. These covenants were contractual instruments intentionally used by white (and often middle- and working-class) Americans to exclude non-white (and particularly Black) middle- and working-class Americans from certain neighborhoods. They were also often used by financial and governmental institutions to determine who could qualify for federally insured loans, where to allocate public services and resources (e.g., parks, highways, libraries, etc.), and where to invest for future growth. Scholarly research has repeatedly shown that these instruments were effective in creating wealth inequality in communities across our country, inequalities whose echoes remain today. And so, even 80 years after the fact, we must acknowledge and confront this reality in our history. Recognizing our mistakes and being honest about what has been done is essential to building a more equitable and just society.
 
Isabel Wilkerson, author of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, writes about our duties to the "houses" we occupy today. Despite having not built the house where we currently live, one that may be many decades old, we are responsible to improve its condition, fix things that are broken, peel back the sheetrock and floorboards to assess whatever structural damage or dry rot exists, and be ever mindful that the home will have future occupants. The home's inhabitability for residents today is based on the care taken by previous owners. Did they, perhaps, simply put buckets under wet ceilings or step over weakened floorboards? Further, the home's condition for future residents is dependent upon those who hold the deed today.
 
The discovery of Whitworth's participation in a racial covenant reveals a moral failure, an action that contributed to injustice, racist systems, and untold consequences for people of color who were not granted the same opportunities as white people. We have a duty, as people seeking to participate in God's redemptive work, to study our history, to acknowledge and own our failures, and to form a better house for our current residents and those who follow. Whitworth University is committed to doing all of that.
 
To that end, our promise at Whitworth is to integrate this reality of Whitworth's history into our narrative of the university's story. Our promise is to renew work with campus and community partners, particularly those from historically marginalized groups, to find concrete ways, within and outside our university borders, to address this painful legacy and work toward greater equity and justice. The sovereign love of the Spirit of God frees us to confess our complicity in structures of injustice and oppression, to become generous conversation partners, to welcome and learn from those who are different from us, and to rest in the knowledge that we love because God first loved us.
 
I have commissioned a campus group to bring forward ideas to further educate us on how Whitworth might learn from this discovery and how we can share this with our greater community. Please anticipate that information to follow in the coming weeks.
 
As we process and grieve this revelation, please know there are resources and people available through the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Office of Student Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, campus ministry, the counseling center, and the Marriage & Family Therapy Center. Please click on the respective links for contact information, personal counseling and spiritual support.
 
Sincerely,
Scott McQuilkin
President
 
*The Racial Restrictive Covenants Project seeks to identify real estate documents that placed restrictive covenants on the sale or rental of real estate to people based on their race or ethnicity. These covenants, widespread in the mid-20th century, were placed on property deeds, many of which today still contain the restrictive covenants. Mandated by the state Legislature last year, with strong bipartisan support, and led by research teams at EWU and the University of Washington, the project seeks to identify existing covenants and provide homeowners options for legally removing the language from their deeds.