Source Material

An honest debate needs primary sources. The lawsuit touches on the historical record - including John A. Mead's own writings - and we believe history should be examined in full, with nuance, rather than erased. The materials below let you read the record for yourself.

The Historical Record

• Middlebury & Eugenics
• Mead & Eugenics
• Farewell Address of John A. Mead, 1912
• Historical Documents (Archive, 1914-1918)

Additional Resources

Reporting, legal analysis, primary documents, and essays on historical context, erasure, and intellectual diversity.

• Donor Standing to Enforce Charitable Gifts in the 21st Century (PDF)
• Scholars Contest Claim That Johns Hopkins Founder Owned Slaves - The Baltimore Sun
• Why Middlebury Was Ranked Among the Worst Colleges for Free Speech (FIRE) - Burlington Free Press
• Education Over Erasure: The Chapel and Cancel Culture at Middlebury - The Middlebury Campus
• Empty Pedestals and Diminished History - Fordham Institute
• The Limitations of Law and History (PDF)
• Campus Free Expression Report (PDF)
• Mead Chapel Turns 100 (Video)
• Aristocratic Excellence, Secular Ecumenism, and the Life of the Modern School - The Free Library
• The Importance of Historic Context in Analysis and Interpretation - ThoughtCo
• The Four Octaves of Middlebury (Video)
• Harvard Will Not Remove Sackler Name From Art Museum and Campus Building - The Harvard Crimson