University of San Diego has 63,000 alumni, and some of them are angry that two prime benefactors of the Catholic school back Donald Trump for president.
Joseph McKellar of Los Angeles, who graduated in 2004, says a group of alumni he represents has launched a Change.org petition Tuesday calling on USD to stop associating with Donald Trump, “given the incredibly racist and xenophobic rhetoric of his campaign.”
“We are demanding that the USD president and Board of Trustees immediately denounce the actions of prominent USD donors Jenny Craig and Doug Manchester,” said the 34-year-old political science and Spanish graduate.
He also wrote an open letter Tuesday.
Saying “hate is not holy,” McKellar asserted that if weight-loss company founder Craig and real-estate developer Manchester refuse to retract their support of Trump, “we are demanding that USD remove Jenny Craig and Doug Manchester’s names from the four buildings on campus” named for them — the Jenny Craig Pavilion, Manchester Hall, Manchester Child Development Center and Manchester Village Apartments.
McKellar said he represents “USD Alumni & Students Against Hate,” but the group has no online presence other than the petition with 32 signers by 4 p.m. Among them is the Rev. Henry Rodriguez Jr., a 1981 alumnus and local chaplain.
“Mr. Trump’s campaign has not reflected gospel values taught at USD or our Christian faith,” Rodriguez wrote.
A USD spokeswoman says the school hasn’t had any other contact by alumni about Manchester and Craig backing Trump.
Both are hosting a fundraiser for the GOP presidential candidate Wednesday in Rancho Santa Fe.
Asked to comment on McKellar’s demands, Pamela Gray Payton, assistant vice president for media communications, said: “Our democracy by its nature invites a variety of differing viewpoints. The University of San Diego respects the constitutional right of freedom of expression including an individual’s right to support the political candidates of their choice.”
Payton said the university has received no similar alumni demands in the past.
Manchester and Craig’s organizations didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
McKellar noted that in the past year, alumni and students at Princeton and Yale have demanded removal of the names of Woodrow Wilson and John C. Calhoun, respectively, “for those two historic figures’ associations with segregationist policies. For the same reasons, we believe Jenny Craig and Doug Manchester’s names should not be associated with Trump’s modern-day racist rhetoric.”
McKellar is deputy director of Sacramento-based PICO California, which calls itself the state’s largest faith-based community organizing network.
“Together, we represent 480 congregations and 450,0000 families of diverse economic, racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds committed to advancing racial and economic justice in California,” its website says.
PICO California says it is nonpartisan and does not endorse or support candidates for office.
In his open letter, McKellar wrote: “This is not a request for USD to take a partisan stand, but rather a moral stand during an extraordinary moment in our country’s history, when the ghosts of our nation’s dark legacy of slavery, segregation and internment are being reawakened to further divide us and make us fear our sisters and brothers.”
In a separate note to Times of San Diego, McKellar said: “We’re expecting hundreds of signatures and have reached out to prominent alumni. We’ve reached out to University Ministry on campus — students are on summer break, so we’re relying on our social media and relational networks to get the word out.”
McKellar says he is active in the alumni association, most recently taking part in a USD “Torero Tour” in Los Angeles.
