Dear Fr. Jenkins, We are writing to express our deepest and most sincere concerns regarding the recent decision to cover up the Luigi Gregori murals in the Main Building. We firmly believe that the murals possess a cultural and historical value that transcends the concerns articulated in your recent e-mail detailing the decision to cover them up.

In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison urged Americans to declare Columbus Day a national holiday. President Harrison’s advocacy was not just made to commemorate the historic discovery of the New World; it was made for the unity of the American People. His statement arguing for the establishment of the holiday came a mere two years after the Battle of Wounded Knee and one year after the largest lynching in American History, when 11 Italian-Americans were lynched in New Orleans.