Letter: The Papitto Purge, a university injustice

Posted 2/14/19

I remember Ralph Papitto as a respected acquaintance who richly deserved his somewhat belated 2016 induction into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame because of his amazing entrepreneurial …

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Letter: The Papitto Purge, a university injustice

Posted

I remember Ralph Papitto as a respected acquaintance who richly deserved his somewhat belated 2016 induction into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame because of his amazing entrepreneurial achievements and his philanthropy. Ralph is probably best known for founding Nortek, Inc. in 1967 — a manufacturer and seller of diversified home products. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Nortek has posted $1.5 billion in sales and employed 14,000 people in 34 states. Ralph retired as chairman of this firm in 1990.

It is unfortunate that the Journal’s story of his death (Jan. 19) noted among his lifetime activities that he was “ousted” from his chairmanship of the board of Trustees of Roger Williams University after he “used a racial slur during a board discussion about the need to increase minority and female membership on the panel.” However, to add insult to injury, his name was then purged from the university’s law school, although he was by-far, its principal benefactor.

Ouster degenerated into obliteration. As one who resides near the RWU campus, I watched in disbelief as workmen removed the Papitto lettering from the façade of the law school building.

That law school, as the Journal did note, was only one of the many educational facilities built at the university because of Papitto’s leadership, his business connections, and his financial acumen.  All of that has been callously disregarded.

The minority that he allegedly disparaged is now a major recipient of the South Providence educational program called Read to Succeed, which the Papitto Foundation created and funds generously. Actions speak louder than words.

The so-called “racial slur” for which Papitto was ostensibly “ousted” was common parlance among sons of Silver Lake immigrants or those, like myself, from South Providence. Though definitely inexcusable, a single utterance does not justify removing Papitto’s name from the law school that he, more than anyone else, established. Here is “political correctness” run rampant! His fall from grace was a disgraceful act —especially by those ungrateful and sanctimonious individuals who engineered it.

Pepitto was autocratic, like many self-made people; his demeanor was gruff; and he was less than articulate as a spokesman for the university. Yet few eloquent academics at any university possessed his common sense, his street smarts, his business brilliance, or his entrepreneurial energy and daring.

The present Roger Williams University, with its physical grandeur and its diverse, modern educational facilities, is more the result of Papitto’s contributions than those of any other person. In my book, as a member of the advisory committee that proposed the Roger Williams University Law School, it will always be Ralph Papitto’s School of Law.

Several years ago another member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame suffered a fate similar to that inflicted upon Papitto. Coach Joe Paterno, inducted because of his football exploits at Brown University and his subsequent record-breaking career at Penn State, was vilified for not vigorously investigating sexual predations by a member of his coaching staff. The university, among other things, removed Paterno’s statue from the entrance to Beaver Stadium.

As Hall of Fame president, I wrote to Joe’s widow with a copy to the Penn State board of trustees. In that missive, I decried the injustice done to Paterno by the trustees’ hysterical rush to judgment before the facts were fully disclosed. Eventually the trustees relented and Paterno’s good name — cultivated by decades of inspiring coaching and mentoring — was restored, along with his statue.

Perhaps the trustees of Roger Williams University, after sober reflection, can afford Papitto the same compassion and justice.

Patrick T. Conley
 Bristol

Mr. Conley is president of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, and former member of the RWU Law School Advisory Committee.

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