Pastor to Astronaut – Who is the Best Californian?

In college I lived one year in a dorm named Serra, named for Junipero Serra, the Franciscan friar who brought Christianity to the then territory of Alta California in the 1760s-80s.  This year my old dorm was renamed the Sally Ride Dorm, in honor of the Stanford grad astronaut (in my 1973 graduating class, but I never knew her) who was the first American woman in space.  Another great California story in my series about my home state….

Fr. Junipero SerraWhy do I have mixed feelings about the dorm name change from Serra to Sally Ride?  Let me count the ways….

• When Fr. Junipero Serra was recently canonized, there were many public protests because of his documented history of abusing Native Americans, forcing them like slaves to live in his new mission compounds, work to feed the missionary fathers, leave behind their native culture and religion.

• Schools named for Serra, even towns with Serra streets, considered removing this shameful brand and renaming them.  Shades of tearing down Confederate statues.  But the schools or streets were still there – what would be the new name?

• My school, Stanford, appointed a committee, naturally, and announced this week that Serra dorm would become Sally Ride dorm.  The committee had been instructed to select an “individual directly tied to California who reflects diversity, is deceased and has been previously overlooked.”  (Maya Angelou and Pat Parker were losing nominees for the dorm.)  The university president praised the choice.  “Sally Ride took her talents and commitments far beyond Stanford, literally around and beyond the globe, and explored new ways of learning about our society and making it better.  She serves as a powerful example for all of us at Stanford today.”

• Sally RideA current Serra/Sally Ride dorm resident praised the name change; “Sally Ride is an extremely incredible role model for so many different types of students on this campus,” said Serra resident Ria Calcagno ’22, following the announcement. “From women to LGBTQ students, to STEM students, to really anyone who wants to trailblaze in whatever they’re interested in. I’m so grateful this name change will inspire students to follow in her footsteps.”

• I’m not sure in 1970 that I even noticed the dorm was named Serra or wondered who he was.  But if the dorm had been named for a woman astronaut, I bet, like Ria Calagno, I would have been thrilled to announce that I lived there.

• So few public statues are women and so few institutions are named for women.  Even the NY Times is writing obituaries for notable women who died years ago but never had their accomplishments remembered.  For our daughters and granddaughters (and sons etc) it is important to name and claim these “her-stories.”

• But…….my doubts about this whole process….

• Too trendy, find a groovy current celebrity to replace the old white guy.  Actually, not really.  Trendy means too quick with the recent fad and too superficial.   But Sally Ride died 15 years ago.  She was a Ph.D. physicist, activist supporter of science education, bold critic of the space program after the Challenger disaster.  

• Just call it the Ride dorm.  Why do honored women, but not men, always have their first name included?  “Great impressionist painters Monet, Renoir and Mary Cassatt….”  Just call it Ride dorm.  OK, getting a little picky here.

• I agree somewhat with the argument about the confederate statues, that they can still teach, put them all in a park and use them to teach about how our ancestors loved making statues of these macho men, what does that say about us, these were the traitors and losers whom we are honoring?  Could we teach about Serra and his many issues by somehow keeping his name in the conversation rather than erasing it?

• At Stanford I made up my own major (you could do that then) in Women’s Studies and Religious Studies.  I was the first Women’s Studies major (they now have a whole department of Gender Studies.)  There was not a Religious Studies major at the time (now there is.)  So am I wanting at least one religious type to have his or her name on a building?  Or am I sad and frustrated that this public discussion about names is about yet one more shamed and criminal priest, just as today our only public discussion about religion are about shamed and criminal priests?

• OK, Stanford is also renaming a main campus street, Serra Way, for Jane Stanford, co-founder of the university and active Christian, so it’s not just the bad priest, here is the good laywoman. 

• Am I just sad that the days of are over of California having a religious nature and heritage?  (I wrote a column in this series a month ago about three religious pioneers in our state, Junipero Serra, Thomas Starr King, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi.) These days we honor science more than religion, astronauts, not priests.

• I like to think of Sally Ride and Junipero Serra in heaven discussing exploration (both went to new unexplored lands,) pushing yourself beyond your limits, living a life of service.  (I don’t really believe in such a scenario, but it’s a fun exercise.)  They are both California pioneers.

• Of course it is a fantastic thing to have a Sally Ride dorm.  Name it, claim it.  Ride, Sally, Ride………

Copyright © 2019 Deborah Streeter