Students at Cleveland High School are asking a big question: Why should our school honor someone who never honored us? As a growing number of students push for a rename, they argue that the school’s current namesake, President Grover Cleveland, does not reflect the values our community strives to uphold.
Grover Cleveland’s historical legacy is a key to the renaming. The first president to serve non-consecutive terms (1885-89, and 1893-97), he has been credibly accused of rape and also signed the Dawes Act, Scott Act and Chinese Exclusion Act, which are all policies that target Indigenous communities and Asian immigrants and helped dismantle tribal sovereignty.
“This isn’t someone we want to celebrate,” said the Native Student Union president, Katzi Rivera. “He doesn’t represent what we value as a school, and many students, especially Native students, don’t feel seen or welcomed by a building named after someone who harmed their communities.”
Currently, Principal Wadkins is writing a request to the superintendent to form a renaming committee. If the superintendent approves, administrators will form a committee in charge of finding a new name. While a specific process to form the committee has not been discussed, Principal Wadkins said that it will have a student majority. Once a committee proposes a name, the school board will vote on it. According to Wadkins, the timeline for the new name is about a year and a half.
At this point, student organizers have not settled on any specific name, and students from NSU and CARE (Cleveland Alliance for Racial Equity), want to stress that community input is essential. New name possibilities include a name that is not a singular person, but instead something locally or culturally meaningful, particularly of Indigenous history. Ideas like Chinook or Celilo were mentioned because they hold local significance and would allow our school to keep its “C” logo and colors, similar to how Wilson became Wells and Madison became McDaniel. Currently, nothing is final and they are open to ideas.
“We want something the whole school can be proud of,” Rivera said.
The timing for a name change couldn’t be better. With the district preparing to tear down and completely rebuild the Cleveland campus, our school is already entering a period of transformation.
“Since we’re getting a whole new building, it feels like the perfect moment to also rethink who we want to be as a school,” Rivera explained. “If we’re rebuilding the school, we might as well rebuild our identity too.”
The newly-installed mural in the main hallway depicts Turtle Island and the message: “We are all related.” The mural has unintentionally become symbolic of the renaming movement. Originally developed by the NSU students in 2021-2022, the mural project was created to replace the Grover Cleveland portrait, and was not related to renaming the school, but the timing aligned in a meaningful way. The new mural was initially displayed in early November.
“It feels symbolic,” Rivera said. “We’re covering up someone who divided people with an image that includes everyone.” This mural represents a new era for Cleveland, and is a symbol of hope for a more inclusive and caring community.
As Cleveland High School prepares for a rebuild, students see this moment as an opportunity to reshape more than just the structure; they want to reshape the school’s identity too. The renaming will help to show more of what our school is most proud of: our inclusiveness and sense of belonging. While the final name is still undecided, one thing is clear: students are ready to create a future where everyone feels represented when they walk through the doors of the new building.
