The Patriot Post® · College Students Favor Renaming Columbus Day

Many college students are in favor of replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In fact, 79% of college students support the idea, according to data and survey analytics company College Pulse.

Newsweek reports that some cities and states have opted to celebrate people who were here before Columbus. These include South Dakota, Alaska, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Vermont. Whatever the case may be, Spencer Brown of Young America’s Foundation (YAF) calls it political correctness run amok.

“At George Washington University they’ve removed the name ‘colonial’ from their campus even though that’s their mascot,” Brown told ToddStarnes.com. “We also see the founding fathers, not just civil war leaders, but people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson who are being threatened by the left’s cancel culture.”

Brown thinks it’s getting to the point where people have to wonder if there is anything in a history book that is safe to teach without being attacked by the left.

So, what should students who don’t want to replace or ignore historical figures do?

“They can raise these issues with their peers,” Brown continues. “If a teacher refuses or a professor refuses to talk about a figure in history that a student feels to be important and knows to be important, bring that up in the classroom and force the teacher or professor to talk about it.”

Brown expects some answers to be ridiculous or absurd.

“But at least work to plant the thoughts about these things in the minds of their peers because when they do that, causing curiosity and kind of pushing back against the left’s intention, which is to shut out any dissent, I think can be really powerful.”

If they have the opportunity, Brown recommends students write a book report or paper on an historical figure.

“Really, just do what you can to be the voice of reason and of intellectual diversity in these discussions.”

Columbus Day is October 14th. It is a federal holiday and is called Columbus Day on the federal government’s Office of Personnel Management website.