Connecting WPI to Histories of Slavery and Native American Dispossession

Lydon, Matthew

Student Work

Connecting WPI to Histories of Slavery and Native American Dispossession

Public Deposited

WPI has historically benefitted from settler colonial structures, from the land upon which it was founded to the wealth used to construct its two towers. I investigated WPI’s continued use of settler colonial ideologies to justify carrying out social injustices in the City of Worcester. WPI’s strategic management policies have begun to transform the city near campus into student housing by displacing current residents. Through this class-based remaking of nearby communities, WPI is accumulating influence over land in ways that disproportionately benefit white capital – a process that asserts the school’s right to the city over the of right existing residents or the Nipmuc people from whom the land was stolen. I urge WPI to examine its ties to historically violent ideologies through more than just student projects. The Institute’s path to decolonization will begin with understanding, acknowledging, and truthfully retelling its history, from its founding to the present day.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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