Last month, an African American employee named Corey Menafee, knocked down the stained glass panel of two slaves picking cotton with a broomstick in the Calhoun residential dining hall on Yale University’s campus, the Washington Post reports.
Racial tensions have been brewing on the univeristy’s campus due to the racist nature of John C. Calhoun and his representation throughout the school through artifacts, panels, and paintings that have upset students attending Yale. However, Menafee wasn’t acting in solidarity or allegiance to the students who have been demanding the change in who and how the school immortalizes their figures. He was promptly fired for being a danger to students, but he didn’t participate in any violent acts against students. He simply got rid of art because he didn’t agree with it, he told The New Haven Independent.
“When I walked into this job, I wasn’t aware of none of that,” Menafee said. “And then you know, being there, you start hearing different things. I took a broomstick, and it was kind of high, and I climbed up and reached up and broke it. It’s 2016, I shouldn’t have to come to work and see things like that.”
Menafee was arrested and is currently facing a felony charge. The university released an offical statement:
“An incident occurred at Calhoun College, a residential college on the campus of Yale University, in which a stained glass window was broken by an employee of Yale, resulting in glass falling onto the street near a passerby, endangering her safety.The employee apologized for his actions and subsequently resigned from the University. The University will not advocate that the employee be prosecuted in connection with this incident and is not seeking restitution.”
UNIVERSITY: Dining hall worker loses job after smashing Calhoun windowpane | https://t.co/xvJQKlTkRj pic.twitter.com/WjITYR0dQG
— Yale Daily News (@yaledailynews) July 12, 2016