Alma Mater, Hail to Thee

I am a graduate of Pomona College in Claremont, California (Class of mutter-mutter), and it’s been with some fascination that I’ve been watching the brouhaha over the school’s Alma Mater tune, “Hail, Pomona, Hail.”

As a college song, the lyrics are innocuous enough (and uninspiring save to those who’ve actually attended the place):

Hail, Pomona, hail!
We, thy sons and daughters, sing
Praises of thy name,
Praises of thy fame.
Til the heav’ns above shall ring:
To the name of Pomona
Alma Mater hail to thee!
To the spirit true
Of the White and Blue.
All hail Pomona, hail!

Nothing earth-shattering in the category of Alma Mater tunes there, to be sure. And the tune it goes to (which I can sing both the melody and the bass line) is fine enough, but, again, hallowed only by tradition (you can listen here).

So why is this song suddenly on the outs, banned from this year’s Commencement or Convocation at the college? Simple — because of some research that indicated that the song was originally — in 1909 or 1910 — composed as the finale of a show that included a blackface minstrel act, held at Pomona to raise money for athletic uniforms. Which automatically, in some folks’ eyes, makes it Utterly Unacceptable as Any Sort of Tune We Want Played Around Here, Because It’s Racist, Don’tcha Know?

Um …

Okay, folks, this isn’t the Confederate battle flag here. The Alma Mater wasn’t created as a symbol of racism (or even “states rights”), it contains no racist message intrinsic, and it’s not being currently used as a paean to racism by college racists. 

If it is unutterably tainted by its association with a minstrel show, then so, too, is the college said show was held at, which ought to be shut down, and whatever building was the site of the show should be torn down (okay, that was Holmes Hall, so I guess we’re safe there). The student composer should be stripped of his degree (well, in point of fact, he withrdrew from the school after a year — but he did win a music award, the first Trustee Medal of Merit in 1972 for composing several college songs, including the Alma Mater — so clearly that award should be done away with, the Music Dept. closed, and the Trustees all fired, and the scholarship in his name should be eliminated, and those who received it should have their degrees revoked, too, as fruit of a tainted tree).

(There’s actually some question, by the bye, as to whether the song actually was written for and sung in the show in question — but the commission appointed to examine the whole kerfuffle decided that indications to the contrary were incorrect, for reasons not made clear.)

Similarly, we should ban “Oh! Susanna” (composed by Stephen Foster and first appearing in minstrel shows), “The Star-Spangled Banner” (a song glorifying war and sung to a drinking tune associated with a British men-only club), and “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” (sung to the national anthem of Britain, that greatest of Imperialist powers).

Anyway … harrumph.

The latest word from the college president, David Oxtoby, is that the song’s suspension as a tune around campus is now lifted:  it will still be allowed for various purposes — but at some of the key official college functions it will not be allowed for the time being (and, at others, will only be allowed if the organizing students agree to it). It remains the Alma Mater, but sort of a (if you pardon the expression) second-hand citizen of one.

First of all, I have decided to confirm Hail, Pomona, Hail as Pomona’s Alma Mater and to end the suspension of performances at official College events such as Alumni Weekend. Given the divisive nature of the controversy over the song on our campus, however, it will not be included in the programs for Commencement or Convocation for the present. In doing this, I have chosen to replace a compromise put forward by the Committee with a compromise of my own. The Committee recommended that Hail, Pomona, Hail should no longer be our Alma Mater but should remain as a college song, to be sung only by our alumni. They also recommended that a new Alma Mater should be composed to take its place.

My decision to confirm the status of Hail, Pomona, Hail as our Alma Mater, rather than replacing it, is based upon a conviction that traditions—like people—should be judged on their merits, not on the basis of historical associations unconnected to their actual character. All are agreed that there is no harmful meaning in either the words or the music of Hail, Pomona, Hail. The question is whether the context of its possible first performance should be determinative.

Three things concern me here. First, there is the inconclusive nature of the evidence. While research conducted by two students and an alumna taught us much about the minstrel show that took place here in 1909–10, it also revealed that the evidence for a connection between that event and Hail, Pomona, Hail is contradictory and open to interpretation. Second, there is the troubling idea that all things associated with an imperfect past should be considered tainted even if there is nothing inherently objectionable about them. And finally, there is the false sense of closure provided by getting rid of something so that we no longer need to talk about the issue that it calls to mind. The Alma Mater still has things to teach us, and the people who cherish it should not be constrained in any way from honoring it.

While I am pleased that the song has not been banished to the Netherworld, I’m less pleased that (a) it still has an officially probationary status (which means it will be sung less which means it will inevitably fade away, solving the “problem”), based on (b) guilt by association — even leaving aside the question of whether the accusations are true, it’s the same sort of conflation of the artistic creation with the circumstances or personalities around its creation that led to the big Dixie Chicks brouhaha, only with even less reason. After all, one could argue that, whether or not the Dixie Chicks’ songs were good or bad, buying their CDs was supporting their ostensibly Evil Unpatriotic Beliefs … whereas I can’t find any indication of anyone actually saying that singing “Hail Pomona Hail” supports blackface minstrel shows and racial jokes.

So when Pres. Oxtoby says … 

It is clear that many of our current students—including students of all races—would now find it uncomfortable to be asked to stand and sing the Alma Mater during Commencement or Convocation. Indeed, in solidarity over these concerns, the Associated Students of Pomona College voted this year to recommend that the Alma Mater be decertified. Commencement belongs to our seniors, who are celebrating the culmination of their college years, and Convocation is where we welcome a new class into our midst. In these special, student-focused settings, unity and a sense of mutual respect are paramount. For that reason, we will not sing the Alma Mater at these events for the present

… it strikes me as missing a huge educational opportunity — to fully discuss the connection between art and the circumstances around its production, and the extent to which the connection exists (doesn’t deconstructive theory actually claim that there is no connection?), or the division (or what division there may be) between creators and the creation — do the political or social or religious or ideological beliefs of a composer, writer, actor, director, conductor, performer of a work have an intrinsic influence (good or bad) on the work itself, regardless of what others may see in the work?

Instead, the message seems to be, “Hey, this makes you uncomfortable, so rather than challenging that sense of aesthetic or intellectual discomfort, we’ll simply go along with it for the time being and let it trump any other factors in the matter, possibly including things like Reality and Truth. All that matters is that someone is believed to be offended to make something unacceptable to us.”

Pity, that.

Reading some of the comments from alumni is also fascinating.

[L]et me urge you, as the dust settles, to give priority to hearing the voices of those to whom the history of this song brings pain. In matters such as this, it is not up to the majority to decide what is or is not hurtful to the minority. Rather, it is up to the majority to hear and honor the pain expressed by the minority.

Certainly pain should be heard and, I guess, “honored” (not quite sure I understand what that means) — but to argue that the “pain” from the history of the song should trump all other considerations is to take a Least Common Denominator of Offense approach to culture. If I feel pain whenever I hear Handel’s Messiah because I sang it in the choir with my first wife, does that pain mean it should be forever stricken from the the college repertoire? Whose pain “wins” here, and why?

Now that I learn from David Oxtoby’s letter that it may have hurtful associations for some in the community, I won’t hear it again in the same way. A disquieting thought will creep into my mind whenever I hear it, and my warm and fuzzy thoughts will be conflicted. …

O noez! Warm and fuzzy thoughts might be conflicted! Ban it! Burn it, I say!

The silences in the song, though, reveal opportunity. “Hail, Pomona, Hail” says nothing about what it means to be a Sagehen. Imagine, instead, an inclusive, community building alma mater reminding us to be “eager, thoughtful, and reverent” and to “bear [our] added riches in trust for mankind.” Let’s eliminate the racist taint with a new song or at least with new lyrics. Let’s take this opportunity to create a truly inspiring alma mater.

Right! But I insist on full background checks for all committee members in the Alma Mater collaborative effort, not to mention the initial performers of said work. I also insist on extensive consumer research panel discussion on any such song, and if anyone is in the least offended by anything, it should be immediately, and unquestionably, stricken from the tune. That may leave a single, mournful kazoo note from a three year old child … but that’s better than someone feeling sad about something about the song, today or a century from now, right?

Meantime, I’ll treasure (and listen to) the CD I have of the Pomona Glee Club singing the Alma Mater (as well as the also–controversial “Torchbearers” tune). I do so with no offense or denigration or intentional nose-thumbing intended toward any particular ethnic or social group — I just enjoy the music and the (decidedly non-racist) associations with my own college days.