Two Indiana universities reached different conclusions Friday about whether to retain the name of the Papa John's pizza chain founder on institution programs.
John Schnatter has been in the news recently after he was heard saying a racial slur during a conference call earlier this year.
Schnatter's graduate school alma mater, the University of Louisville, removed Schnatter’s name from its football stadium and similarly-funded business program. Schnatter himself resigned from a position on the school’s Board of Trustees.
Ball State University
Ball State University’s governing board says it will not take John Schnatter's name off a business program at the school.
Ball State dedicated the John H. Schnatter Institute for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise in 2016. It is funded by money from Schnatter and the Charles Koch Foundation.
In a statement Friday, Ball State Board of Trustees president Rick Hall says Schnatter used that word “not in a derogatory manner,” but in a private meeting with consultants as an example of what not to say.
Hall says with Ball State, Schnatter has “never expressed racist views.” He says the school will continue to support the business program, which funds several faculty and student positions.
Public document requests from Muncie’s Star Press newspaper show Ball State received less than a dozen complaints after Schnatter’s situation was made public.
The face of Papa John’s pizza was a 1983 Ball State grad.
Purdue University
The Purdue University Board of Trustees Friday voted unanimously to remove Schnatter’s name from its economic research center.
Purdue Board Chairman Michael Berghoff – reading from a statement at the meeting – says the economics center will revert to its original name.
“The board believes this action is necessary," Berghoff says. "To avoid distraction from the center’s work, counterproductive division on the campus, and any inference of any deviation from the university’s often stated stance on tolerance and racial relations.”
The name change, back to the “Purdue University Research Center in Economics,” is effective immediately.
Purdue named the center after Schnatter in April when he donated $8 million to the school. The governing board will offer to return those funds.