From Wisc.edu….
The University of Wisconsin–Madison moved the former Chamberlin Rock, an object that had become a painful symbol of racism to generations of students, to a site off the main campus on August 6.
The rock had sat at the crest of Observatory Hill since 1925. That same year, it was referred to in a newspaper headline by a deeply offensive nickname that included a racial slur. The derogatory nickname was commonly used at the time to refer to any large, dark rock.
The Wisconsin Black Student Union, in partnership with the Native American student organization Wunk Sheek, led an effort to remove the rock from campus. UW–Madison’s main campus is on ancestral Ho-Chunk land.
Last November, students testified at a meeting of the Campus Planning Committee that the continued presence of the rock was a daily reminder of the injustices, past and present, that students of color face on campus. Committee members recommended to Chancellor Rebecca Blank that the rock be moved off campus; Blank accepted that recommendation.
