Nancy Voskuyl Memorial Chapel

This prayer chapel was erected in 1959 to memorialize the life of Nancy Voskuyl, a student at Westmont who was also the daughter of the univeristy President. The event became a defining moment in many of the lives of students and faculty at that time, and the chapel was created in her memory. In recent years, students participated in demonstrations at the site, calling for the removal of a piece of stained glass depicting a white Jesus standing over North America. From 2019-2020, a group of students protested this window which they saw as a symbol of white supremacy and colonialism. The window was removed shortly after the murder of George Floyd. A new art installation depicting different cultural representations of Jesus has been promised, but as of spring 2023, that installation is still pending.

This chapel was erected to honor the life of Nancy Voskuyl, a student at Westmont College, who died tragically in a car crash near campus in 1959. The project was led by students and faculty, and the clas of 1960 made the furnishings of the chapel their gift to the school. In 1989, a paque was added recognizing students who were killed in a var accident that year.

Students first brought to light their perceptions of the window on February 5, 2019 with a letter to administration, the catalyst for the subsequent protests. Student authors Emily Mata, Brendan Fong, and Olivia Stowell argued that “...representing Jesus Christ as a White man, given the context and history of global racism and colonialism, only furthers the marginalization and oppression of people of color.” They also appealed to the college’s stated value of diversity: “...noting the spiritual significance of the prayer chapel, as well as its central location on our campus, we believe it would be a healthy and healing move for the college to repent of colonialist imagery and further embrace its commitment to ‘diversity in a biblical vision of God’s Kingdom.’” Fong, Mata, and Stowell call for the removal of the window as “an act of restorative justice." 

The prayer chapel window protest reflects perceptions that Westmont College has predominantly served white students and has failed to be an inclusive institution. In a Santa Barbara Independent op-ed, three Black alumni and three Black students spoke about experiencing racial injustice during their time at Westmont. They tell stories of hurt, harm, and feeling unsafe and unwelcome in the community. For some the image of a white Jesus on the campus was a reflection of the assumptions of students and faculty in the early 1960s, and keeping the window would demonstrate that these perceptions remain. Scholars Pittman and Boyles argue that the “default” and “formative” image of “White Jesus” must be resisted in the Christian undergraduate setting. They state that the “myth” of “White Jesus functions as a proxy for the ‘socially constructed apparatus’ of white supremacy ‘by combining empire, colorism, racism, education, and religion."

The first protest occurred on February 8, 2020. A variety of posters using the hashtag #toxicwestmont were placed on and around the window. The next protest was on February 28— posters giving testimony to the experiences of people of color on campus were placed on a central footbridge. They were intentionally hung up during a large outreach event hosted by the campus. On March 5, the lead college administrators wrote a formal apology email to the campus community. They wrote, “we apologize for the ways that our own actions, comments, or inactions have contributed to [pain experienced by students of color].” The climactic protest occurred the following day on Friday, March 6, 2020, a day when prospective students filled the campus. Dressed in white with tape over their mouths, students, faculty and staff stood in silence outside of the gym as people left an all-school chapel. Students left for spring break that day, not yet knowing they were leaving for the semester. The campus closed due to the global Covid-19 pandemic on March 12.

Tragically, on May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a black man, was murdered in an act of police brutality. Following this event, a new list of student demands regarding Westmont’s treatment of racial diversity and justice were sent to the executive team. The students again requested that the college “remove the image of a White Jesus in North America from the Voskuyl prayer chapel, and place it in a space where it can be contextualized. Place a plaque next to it that provides an explanation of removal." Three days later, an all-school conference call was held. The president announced that the window would have additional art added. On June 8th, the window was removed. The college said that a new art installation would be put up, but for now the window remains empty, and without a plaque for the context of its removal. Today, a group called “Students for Peace and Justice,” born in the white Jesus protests, exists on campus to continue fighting for institutional change.

Westmount College, A Time To Weep accessed 10-18/2023 https://www.westmont.edu/about/history/1960s/a-time-to-weep

Beebe, Gayle D. “Next Steps: Moving Forward.” Internet Archive, Westmont College Office of the President, 4 June 2020, https://ia803200.us.archive.org/29/items/june-4-call-transcription-3/June%204%20Call%20Transcription-3.pdf.

Fong, Brendan, et al. “Students Send Letter To Administration.” Westmont White Jesus, 2 May 2019, https://westmontwhitejesus.weebly.com/blog/students-send-letter-to-administration.

Fong, Brendan, et al. “Students Send New List of Student Demands.” Westmont White Jesus, 1 June 2020, https://westmontwhitejesus.weebly.com/blog/students-send-new-list-of-student-demands. 

Mata, Emily, et al. “Racial Injustice at Westmont College.” The Santa Barbara Independent, 15 July 2020, https://www.independent.com/2020/07/15/racial-injustice-at-westmont-college/. 

Pittman, Amanda Jo, and John H. Boyles. “Challenging White Jesus: Race and the Undergraduate Bible Classroom.” Religious Education, vol. 114, no. 3, 10 May 2019, pp. 315–327., https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2019.1603943. 

“Executive Team Sends All Student Email.” Westmont White Jesus, 6 Mar. 2020, https://westmontwhitejesus.weebly.com/blog/executive-team-sends-all-student-email.  

“Students for Peace and Justice Launches.” Westmont White Jesus, 27 Aug 2020, https://westmontwhitejesus.weebly.com/blog/students-for-peace-and-justice-launches.

“Westmont White Jesus.” Weebly, https://westmontwhitejesus.weebly.com/.