A movement is currently underway by Whitman College Art History professor Libby Miller to have the statue of Marcus Whitman removed from the Whitman campus as well as from the permanent Walla Walla public art collection. Whitman was a medical doctor, missionary and frontiersman.

The statue was created by sculptor Avard T. Fairbanks (1897–1987), an internationally renowned American sculptor, widely known for numerous monuments and commemorative sculpture on public exhibit throughout the United States and abroad.  His career as an artist was one of the most prolific of any American sculptor, with commissions numbering in the hundreds.  

This past summer, Professor Miller headed a research team, with support from the Whitman College president’s cabinet, formed and funded by the school’s “Engaged Learning and Research Initiative” to investigate the statue’s history and propose what to do with it.  

Professor Miller stated in the 9/3/2020 Walla Walla Union Bulletin newspaper that the statue of Marcus Whitman “is not the history of Marcus Whitman, it is not the history of the Walla Walla Valley and it’s not the history of Whitman College.” She is advocating for its removal.

In its place, Miller proposes the installation of five horse sculptures representing the five tribes present on the lands predating Marcus Whitman’s arrival.  I am in favor of honoring the Native American tribes, but feel that the 117 acre Whitman College campus is large enough for both the statue of Marcus Whitman and the Native American art installation.

Dr. George Ball, beloved Whitman College professor and a standard-bearer for ethics and justice, spoke the following words at the dedication of the Marcus Whitman statue:

“O God, we know that much of what we say, of what we do, and of what we are does not come from us.  Rather, it comes to us, as a heritage patiently accumulated over generations now beyond our capacity to count.

Today we set in place a visible symbol of one of our community’s ancestors, an ancestor who had two qualities by which we still try to describe and justify ourselves.  He was first, a dreamer, a visionary.  Without dreams we simply rotate in monotonous circles.  Marcus Whitman took the long view of time and distance.  We still need to dream. 

Second, he was moved by a desire to help, to give, to serve, a desire which however inefficient and even self-defeating in his practice, still was the root motive which explained his life.  Without that decision to help and to serve, our community is not a community.  Help us, therefore, O God, to be grateful for his life and to remember it.”

By signing this petition you are indicating that you are in favor of having the Marcus Whitman statue remain where it is currently located, and that you are also in favor of honoring the five Native American tribes in the area when Whitman arrived through a separate art installation on the Whitman College campus.