Ooops. Iowa State University couldn’t possibly have expected its tribute to Carrie Chapman Catt to blow up in our faces the way it has. Or could we have?

Who would have ever thought a controversy would have resulted from the university paying homage to a woman famous for fighting for gender equality in America in a time when gender equality was considered an outrageous concept? Nobody, apparently.

Was Carrie Chapman Catt a heroine, a pioneer for women’s rights, for the women’s movement that continues today? Possibly.

Was Carrie Chapman Catt a racist and a bigot, a classist and a nationalist that fought for the rights of women at the expense of the liberties for Native Americans, African Americans and other minority groups? Possibly.

Historical evidence would seem to support both of these claims, and the recent conflagration over Catt’s social disposition has truly made one point very clear: Everybody seemed to know a bit more about Catt than the university seemed to have.

Letters to the editor, panel discussions and debates have revealed that many in the ISUcommunity were well-informed on the background of the woman whose name is now borne by ISU’s old Botany Hall.

Knowing that the university would not knowingly honor a woman now accused of being a racist, one can only assume the organizers of the week set aside to commemorate Catt and the 75th anniversary of the 19th Amendment simply did not have enough background information on Catt.

Without properly addressing Catt’s history in its entirety, a week that was organized to promote unity has now torn people apart. All because somebody didn’t do their homework.