While the main name debate here at UR has been focused on Freeman and Ryland, another name that I also have an issue with is Paul Queally, whose name is on three buildings. Paul Queally, class of 1986, is the rector of the Board of Trustees (only 3 of 25 members are people of color, one of whom is President Crutcher) which gives him the most power on the campus. Paul Queally has a number of offenses that do not justify the University having three buildings with his name attached. He was caught telling sexist and homophobic jokes in front of an audience of other powerful and wealthy people that participate in multiple off-color and inappropriate jokes. In response to his words, he said “My brief remarks were in the spirit of the event but they do not reflect my views or my values. On reflection I should have said nothing. … I believe my record in support of education, diversity, and economic advancement defines who I am and what I stand for.” If he truly supported diversity then he would make a bigger effort to increase diversity on the Board of Trustees and wouldn’t say things that offend and make others uncomfortable.
A bit lesser known, Paul Queally is also responsible for the creation of the men’s lacrosse team. It’s great to have a lacrosse team, but at what cost? Paul Queally paid $3 million to eliminate the men’s track and soccer teams to make room for the lacrosse team. How was this decision made? The details aren’t clear. Queally did, however, have an incoming son who played high school lacrosse. Ultimately this lead to a fallout among the Board of Trustees with Bobby Ukrop (class of 1969 and CEO of Ukrop’s Homestyle Foods), who was a big soccer fan himself. He wasn’t the only one to leave either, as donations to school dropped 10% after the decision to remove the soccer and track teams was made.
Until this school changes its leadership and values morals over money, I do not see much progress in making this campus more inclusive and supportive for people of all backgrounds. Everyone makes mistakes, but surely we can get someone who makes fewer mistakes than Paul Queally. Our school already has a few billion in the endowment, so we should stop taking his millions.
I completely agree that our school’s monetary priorities seem to be way out of line when considering the endowment that we already have. I also find Paul Queally to be an unethical person who should not hold so much power over our school. Last semester as I was walking past Keller Hall with a group of friends, a blue sports car driven by some old white man pulled up to us and asked, “How bad is it?”. He went on to explain that he was the ‘head’ of the Board of Trustees and wanted our opinion on COVID policies, but way to creep out a group of female college students and simultaneously undermine the importance of Covid policies.
I’ve heard a few stories about Paul Queally speeding around campus before and doing things like this. It’s unfortunate that he seems to treat this place as his personal playground with no consequences and has enough money and power to do so.