Mula Lay – Staff Writer

Linnaeus, the name that is synonymous with the arboretum of Gustavus, is named after Carl Linnaeus. Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist and physician. His achievements in the scientific field and, of course, being of Swedish descent was what granted his name to be at the forefront of our beloved arboretum. In light of recent events, there has been a call to action in renaming the arboretum. This renaming effort has been initiated by an on campus student organization called the Radicals. They argue that Carl Linnaeus, while holding remarkable achievements in the scientific field, has been linked to scientific racism.
The Radicals argue that the issue with the Linnaeus name comes with the implications of racism. Specifically Linnaeus’ work on the Systema Naturae, in which he classifies humans as a part of the animal kingdom. In this body of work, there is a classification in which four categories of the human ‘species’ are formed. These four categories are Americanus (American), Europaeus (European), Asiaticus (Asian), and Africanus (Africans). Within these categories, there is a classification of behavior. The Radicals interpret the behaviors seen in the Europaeus and Americanus categories as positive while the behaviors seen in Asiaticus and Africanus categories are negative. The work uses terms such as ‘cheerful’ and ‘wise’ for Americanus and Europaeus while describing Asiaticus and Africanus as ‘haughty’ and ‘neglectful’ and the Radicals claim this to be explicitly racist.
Students‒both members of the Radicals and their supporters‒have shared that the impact of this body of work can be overbearing as it empowers the positively described ‘species’ while it disheartens the negatively described ‘species’, thus giving way to stereotypes that can be harmful.
The Radicals initiated the efforts in renaming the arboretum after learning of the College’s commitment to anti-racism and their acknowledgement of existing on Native American land, namely, the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ nations.
In adhering to the newfound commitments, the Radicals believe that removing the Linnaeus name from the Arboretum would not only strip the name they say is associated with racism but would also honor the Lakota notion that land should not be named after people.
In researching the cultural aspects of Native American culture, The Radicals were able to have a conversation with indigenous Cânté Sütá-Francis Bettelyoun.
“He just talked about naming practices and the kind of white colonial tradition that assigns human attributes and human names to land that really doesn’t belong to people, it belongs to everyone in the community,” Senior Signe Jeremiason, a co-facilitator for the Radicals, said.
One of the initiatives Jeremiason took was sending out a survey in October 2020 to students gauging opinions on changing the arboretum name. The survey garnered over three hundred responses, of which, over two hundred were for the name change and the rest were either against it or were neutral.
“Something that we’ve noticed with the discussions with students is that they’re not as educated about the issue as we’ve kind of been hoping for… A lot of people [against renaming] just assume that we want to get rid of it [Linnaeus] because he’s a white man,” Junior Grace Matson, the secretary for the Radicals said.
The Radicals believe that students should be exposed to the issue of renaming and be educated in what renaming entails.
“We [the Radicals] also want to make sure that students are actually aware of this issue [renaming] … because I know personally if I were not in the Radicals, I wouldn’t realize that there was something going on with trying to change the arboretum name,” First-year Savanna Hanle said.
The Radicals are continuing to advocate for the Linnaeus name removal and, for more information regarding the topic, contact your student senate representative or environmental sustainability chair.