Harvard Students Call on University to Dename Sackler Buildings at Art Museum’s ‘Die-In’

AUDIO – REAL EDUCATION –

April 21, 2023 – More than 50 protesters called on Harvard to remove the Sackler name from all University sites and departments — including the Arthur M. Sackler Building and Arthur M. Sackler Museum. In addition, some protesters urged the school to invest in a more available supply of the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone.

The protest, which started at 12:30 p.m., took place in the atrium of the Harvard Art Museums and included chants such as “Shame on Sackler,” “Take Down the Name,” and “No More Drug War.” Protesters also dropped empty pill bottles onto the floor as bloodied paper money and palm cards rained down from the second floor balcony.

In an emailed statement Thursday, Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton confirmed the school is reviewing a proposal to dename the two buildings, which was submitted last fall by members of the Harvard College Overdose Prevention and Education Students to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Process for Denaming Spaces, Programs, or other Entities.

“The university has established a process for considering de-naming spaces, programs, or other entities. A proposal to de-name the Arthur M. Sackler Museum and the Arthur M. Sackler Building has been submitted and is currently under review,” Newton wrote.

The protesters are part of a larger group of activists who argue that members of the Sackler family who largely owned the multi-billion dollar drug company Purdue Pharma began the ongoing nationwide opioid crisis. Since 2007, local, state, and federal governments have claimed in an extensive series of lawsuits that members of the Sackler family knew Purdue Pharma’s pain relief drug OxyContin was highly addictive, but they downplayed its dangers when marketing it to doctors.