Not MY Brady!

Why were several students kicked out of Mizzou after WWII?

Why were students kicked out of the University in the 1940s and early 1950s?

Most people may know that during the Cold War there was a national fear that communists may have been working in the federal government. This fear led to the removal of many government employees who were or were rumored to be communists. Similarly, there was also a fear in Congress of homosexual employees in the federal government. This fear stemmed from the belief that homosexual employees could be blackmailed into betraying the government because of their sexuality. As a result many people were fired from their jobs. This panic known as “The Lavender Scare” spread nationwide..

There was a fear that MU was becoming a Midwest hub for homosexual students. In the late 1940s the University set up a committee to seek out gay students, faculty, and staff. As a result of this committee’s efforts, many students (hundreds by some reports) were interrogated and removed from the University. One tenured journalism professor, E.K. Johnston, was arrested in a homosexual bust outside the University. The University fired him before he ever went to trial.

T.A. Brady was instrumental in helping to start and further this committee. As you can see in the linked files from the University of Missouri archives, he was insuring that the University was putting in place “machinery for handling of discipline and homosexual cases.” He hand picked the people on the committee to ensure that it was running as well as it could. He was even taking trips to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and talking with the St. Louis police department to find out how the University of Missouri could be most efficient in ridding the University of homosexuals. The means by which homosexual students, staff and faculty were discovered and removed from the University, as outlined in several letters and memorandums written by T.A. Brady, ranged from increasing general campus awareness of the “perversion” to such extreme measures as invading private medical records and doctor-patient privileged conversations. Based on these documents found in the University of Missouri Archives, T.A. Brady would do anything to make sure that “true homos” were removed from the University because of the “danger” they posed the general student body.

We have three interviews from the National LGBT Historical Society with students who attended the University of Missouri during the late 1940s and early 1950s. One of the men interviewed was kicked out of the University. According to his accounts, literally hundreds of students were being removed from the University at that time.

T.A. Brady went above and beyond to make sure he was ruining the lives of some of the students at MU. The University of Missouri is building a new student center and has the opportunity to name it after any number of great faculty or alumni who have done their part to make this University better for all students. Why, then, would the University want to name a NEW building after a man that worked to ruin the lives of so many Mizzou students?

posted by Erin @ 11:53 PM 18 comments

WHO IS T.A. BRADY?

This was taken from a 1966 Resolution written by the Board of Curators:

“Thomas A. Brady served the University of Missouri for thirty-eight years as instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, professor, vice president, and dean. Thomas Brady distinguished himself in his chosen field both as a teacher and a scholar. Thomas A. Brady brought distinction and honor to the University by being the first University faculty member ever chosen as a Guggenheim Fellow. Near the end of World War II, Thomas A. Brady made a major contribution to American higher education through his study of the educational needs of the returning veteran and his plans for meeting those needs in Missouri and elsewhere. Thomas A. Brady held an abiding faith in the dignity and personal worth of each individual and made this faith operational in the daily life of our students through the student personal services, which he organized, developed and supervised. Therefore, be it resolved that the Curators of the University of Missouri do hereby recognize the long and distinguished service that Thomas A Brady rendered to the University and especially to its students by naming the building now known as the Student Commons the THOMAS A. BRADY COMMONS in testimony of our esteem and gratitude for his devoted service. "*

Sounds good, right?

The following statements were taken from letters written by Thomas Brady:

“I believe the Missouri Constitution compels us to keep white and negro students separate in activities which are part of the school program”*
-November 10, 1947

When discussing gay and lesbian students he wrote, “…they are a menace to a student population since they seek to indoctrinate and make converts…”*
-December 7, 1949

Does this sound like somebody who “held an abiding faith in the dignity and personal worth of each individual?” Should a space with such high student traffic bear this man's name? As the expansion of Brady Commons begins, we should ask these questions. More importantly, as members of the community at Mizzou, we should concern ourselves with the historical roots of the climate that exists on campus today.

This is an open forum for interested students, faculty, and staff to discuss the issue. We will be posting more information weekly on this blog regarding Thomas Brady over the school year.

Please feel free to use the link at the bottom of each post for any questions or comments.

*All information came from the University Archives, University of Missouri-Columbia.

posted by Erin @ 8:42 PM 32 comments