Corey Menafee, a black dishwasher in Yale’s cafeteria is facing a felony charge after he smashed a stain glass panel depicting slaves carrying bales of cotton. The panel was displayed in Yale’s Calhoun residential dining hall.
Menafee, who said he used a broomstick to knock the panel to the floor, said that he was simply tired of looking at the image that he described as “racist, very degrading.”
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.
He was arrested by city police. The university later issued a statement saying that Menafee resigned after the glass fell onto the street onto a passerby.
There has been heated debated at Yale as of late over the college’s racially influenced symbolism. Calhoun, which is named for former US VP and slavery advocate John C. Calhoun, was the subject of a petition last summer. The petition called for a name change as well as slavery-themed paintings, artifacts, and stained-glass tiles on display in the college. The petition was in vain as Yale president, Peter Salovey announced in April that the university will keep the Calhoun name despite the student-led campaign.