Ball State’s board has voted to remove John Schnatter’s name from its Institute for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise. Schnatter’s name will also be removed from a professorship funded by the same donation.
Leading the meeting by phone, board chair Rick Hall says his statement on August 3to keep Schnatter’s name on the business program was only part of a planned response. He had hoped to bring Schnatter to campus for conversations with students about “race relations and critical thinking.” Hall says Schnatter was willing to come to campus.
But, Hall says, “President [Geoffrey] Mearns has advised us that such discussions with John and other good faith gestures would not be well received or effective as long as his name remains on the institute.”
Ball State says it will also return money from the 2016 grant to the Schnatter Family Foundation.
The vote wasn’t unanimous, however. Jean Ann Harcourt of Milroy gave the lone “no” vote. She says she believes Schnatter’s comments were taken out of context.
“I am a Christian who believes strongly about forgiveness. I feel John has apologized and asked for forgiveness.”
The vote came in a special meeting called the day before faculty convocation – the traditional start to Ball State’s new academic year.
Purdue University voted on August 3 to remove Schnatter’s name from its economics institute. Several schools in Kentucky have also removed Schnatter’s name from various business programs and athletics stadiums.