New York’s largest Catholic university has decided not to recognise today’s US holiday as “Christopher Columbus Day’’, despite the day traditionally observing and being held in honour of the explorer who discovered the New World.
The academic calendar of St. John’s University instead now describes the holiday, which occurs on the second Monday of each October, as a “fall mini-break" [<em>fall</em> is the US term for autumn], which sees the "university closed" and "no classes”, <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/10/13/us-news/st-johns-university-cancels-columbus-day/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">reports</mark></a> the <em>New York Post</em>.
“It’s outrageous not acknowledging Columbus, it’s just ludicrous,” said former Brooklyn state Assemblyman Peter Abbate, a St. John’s alumnus who earned a bachelor’s degree in history and political science at the university.
“They might as well call St. John’s University [just] ‘John’s University’.”
Angelo Vivolo, president of the Columbus Heritage Coalition said: "To not acknowledge Columbus is insane. Of course it’s an insult.”
Vivolo, a former chairman and president of the Columbus Foundation, which hosts the city’s annual parade to celebrate the European explorer – generally held to have originally come from Italy – noted the organisation awards scholarships to Italian American high school students to attend colleges, and scores of them over the years have enrolled at St. John’s.<br><br>Recognising Columbus Day has become increasingly contentious in recent years following protests that the explorer enslaved and brutalised native populations during his voyages to the New World.
Observing Columbus Day was scrapped at local government level during Bill de Blasio’s tenure as New York Mayor and replaced with “Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous People’s Day”.
St John's is not alone, as other universities, both in New York and elsewhere in the country, have also distanced themselves from Columbus Day, the <em>Post</em> reports.
Notre Dame University in Indiana, and arguably the US's most famous Catholic university, does not recognise Columbus Day at all, and its calendar indicates classes are in session.
New York's Manhattan University and Niagara University, as well as Seton Hall University in New Jersey, state that they’re on “fall break” without mentioning Columbus.
The City University of New York calendar simply says “college closed". The calendars for the main campuses of the State University of New York make no mention of “Columbus Day".
St. Francis College in Brooklyn appears to have sought to satisfy both sides of the debate by calling the 14 October holiday “Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day".
Some institutions, however, are still holding out for Columbus. Fordham University, New York's other major Catholic university, says in its calendar that the “university is closed for Columbus Day”.
Iona College, a Catholic school in Westchester County, also recognises “Columbus Day” in the calendar, although it does not observe the holiday, stating “classes in session”.
St. John’s has defended taking Columbus off the calendar.
“After factoring in federal holidays, finite days are available on the academic calendar to observe,” said St. John’s representative Brian Browne, the <em>Post</em> reports.
“In 2018, St. John’s University elected to observe Veterans Day and mark Columbus Day with an extended fall mini-break at the beginning of October. The fall mini-break usually coincides with Columbus Day,” Browne said.
“St. John’s University community members and alumni regularly participate voluntarily in Columbus Day festivities throughout metropolitan New York City and will do so again this year.”
Democratic Queens Councilman Robert Holden called out the censoring of Columbus, saying: “We shouldn’t be putting 21st-century standards on 15th-century explorers; that’s what the woke zealots do through presentism."
To back up his argument, he highlighted: “Federal and state law designate this Monday as Columbus Day."
For now they do.
In 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democrats' presidential nominee for the forthcoming US election, made an address at the National Congress of American Indians in which she gave a <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-harris-delivers-remarks-at-the-national-congress-of-american-indians-convention"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">damning inditement of Columbus Day</mark></a>, saying that the country “must not shy away” from the “shameful past” around it.
"It is an honour, of course, to be with you this week as we celebrate Indigenous People's Day – as we speak truth about our nation's history," Harris says.
"Since 1934, every October the United States has recognised the voyage of the European explorers who first landed on the shores of the Americas.
"But that is not the whole story. That has never been the whole story.
"Those explorers ushered in a wave of devastation for tribal nations, perpetrating violence, stealing land and spreading disease. We must not shy away from this shameful past.
“We must shed light on it and do everything we can to address the impact of the past on native communities today.”
Back across the Atlantic Ocean in modern-day Europe, this year's Columbus Day, and the ongoing questions around it, has coincided with dramatic scientific news. After an investigation lasting two decades, scientists in Spain claim to have confirmed that the remains of Christopher Columbus are entombed within Seville Cathedral.
The genetic tests that were conducted also indicate, they say, that the explorer most likely was a Jewish Spaniard, and not from Italy as has long been the generally held contention.
<a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/confirmation-that-remains-of-christopher-columbus-in-seville-and-he-likely-was-jewish/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><strong><em>RELATED: Confirmation that remains of Christopher Columbus in Seville – and he likely was Jewish</em></strong></mark></a>
<em>Photo: Statue of Christopher Columbus at Columbus Circle in front of Union Station in Washington, DC, USA.(Photo credit MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images.)</em>
