MARQUETTE, MI-- Northern Michigan University has removed a plaque after an online petition called it racist.
NMU’s Carillon Towers were dedicated to John McGoff in the 1970s. He owned a conglomeration of pro-apartheid newspapers in the U.S. and South Africa.
The petition was launched after former Marquette resident Matthew Holiday wrote a social media post giving McGoff’s background.
“McGoff had a lot of pretty shady connections to the South African government. He was actually charged by the U.S. government with being a non-registered agent and kind of slipped out of those charges via the statute of limitations,” he says.
McGoff donated $300,000 to Northern Michigan University in 1978. The school used the money for a speaker series and dedicated the Carillon Towers to him.
Northern spokesman Derek Hall says the university returned the money in 1988… and forgot about the towers.
“And the existence of a plaque didn’t come to light until a petition was filed on Change.org last week. Since then that plaque has been removed,” he says.
More than 1,200 people signed the petition. Some are asking NMU to rededicate the towers in honor of racial equality.
