Outside the Ensley Athletic Center is the frozen image of Jim Brown, mid-stride, with a football cradled in his left arm. The bronze statue, put up in November 2015, is a tribute to the hall of famer who once wore the legendary No. 44 jersey at Syracuse University. It’s also a statue two SU alumni are trying to remove.

Samantha Skaller and Seth Quam, the two alumni, started their push to remove the statue in May 2017, after learning of Brown’s controversial history that includes multiple accusations of sexual and physical assault. Brown was tried but never convicted of rape and assault in the 1980s.

Skaller, former Northeast regional leader for the “It’s On Us” national sexual assault prevention campaign, and Quam, current Youth Outreach Coordinator for the Southwest Crisis Center, have asked the university to remove the statue and other visual representations of Brown. They have also asked SU to revoke his 2016 Arents Award, the highest alumni honor given by the university.

Brown, who played for SU from 1954-56, is known as one of the greatest football players in history. Beyond the game, Brown’s legacy is contentious.

Brown, an activist, has been celebrated for his work with the black community. He founded the Black Economic Union to establish black-run businesses. He also launched Amer-I-Can, an organization dedicated to teaching life management and personal growth techniques to inner-city gang members and prison inmates.

But Brown has also been accused and investigated for at least six incidents of violence against women, mainly domestic violence, and one case of rape between 1965 and 2000. He was charged with the rape and assault of a 33-year-old woman in 1985. The case went to court, but the charges were dismissed by a judge due to “inconsistent testimony.” In his memoir, Brown admitted to slapping women.

“Through the tremendous courage displayed by the many women coming forward, Jim Brown’s history of sexual and domestic violence became public,” Skallar and Quam said in a December 2017 letter to the university. “As a community we cannot accept the idolization of a man who has been perpetrated numerous acts of interpersonal violence.”

A representative of Brown did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday night.

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Skaller and Quam said in their letter they understand the danger of furthering the “destructive trope of the hypersexualized violent black man.” They also said the trope has been a tool of racial oppression in American history.

“And that is why we implore you to engage Syracuse University community members that inhabit a multitude of intersecting identities to be a part of this discussion regarding Mr. Brown’s decades long history of sexual and relationship violence,” Skaller and Quam said in the letter.

Skaller and Quam met with John Wildhack, the university’s director of athletics, and Executive Senior Associate AD/Chief Communications Officer Sue Edson in April 2017 to discuss the statue. They also met with Chancellor Kent Syverud and Barry Wells, special assistant to the chancellor, three weeks later.

Quam said, in meetings, administrators did not deny knowledge of the allegations against Brown.

The matter was delegated to the Task Force on Sexual and Relationship Violence and the Council on Diversity and Inclusion, Skaller said. The committees were to have dialogue on the matter and reach a decision, she added. Skaller and Quam, as alumni, followed up on the issue by sending a letter to both committees and Syverud in December 2017.

Letter From Samantha Skaller and Seth Quam by michaelburke47 on Scribd

In late March, Skaller and Quam had an hourlong video call with Syverud, Wells and Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz, who were representatives of the two workgroups. The chancellor’s candor surprised Skaller, she said. Syverud told Skaller he has a personal relationship with Brown, she said. Skaller’s and Quam’s proposition is something he’s been grappling with as a person, as well as an administrator, she added.

Skaller said she and Quam requested the university reach out to Brown to see if he would be interested in releasing his own statement addressing the matter. Skaller and Quam also requested a statement be released by both work groups.

“We need to have multivocality in this,” Skaller said. “We need students’ voices, we need administrators’ voices and we need Jim Brown’s voice, if he wants to provide it.”

Daily Orange File Photo

The university currently has no plans in motion to take down the statue or have Brown’s 2016 Arents Award removed, an SU spokesperson confirmed in a March 28 email.

But Skaller said Syverud told the pair “he refuses” to put up or sign off on any visual representations of a person without a thoroughly researched investigation to make sure they have no history of sexual or relationship violence.

“To me that’s a win,” Skaller said. “Even if the statue and all these visual representations of Jim Brown don’t get taken down, that’s still a win for me.”

In February 2018, Syverud told Skaller and Quam in an email that he asked the advisory committees to review the processes for selecting honorees for awards, and to make recommendations to change or strengthen them. The committees are expected to work on the review this spring semester.  

The duo’s goal to remove the statue remains, though.

“We still want all those things to happen, but we trust in the university’s decision so far,” Skaller said.

Published on April 8, 2018 at 11:30 pm

Contact Stacy: sfern100@syr.edu | @StacyFernandezB