Henry Madden Library photo via Fresno State

Fresno State’s campus library is the latest facility slated for a renaming after the controversial views of its namesake have been revealed.

Fresno State president Saul Jimenez-Sandoval wrote in a note to the campus community Monday about “some very concerning, recently uncovered history” that has led to a task force on renaming the university library.

Jimenez-Sandoval said that week he was made aware that Henry Madden “held deeply antisemitic views and Nazi sympathies.” He said the views were reflected in his own writings and papers, which are housed in the special collections of the Henry Madden Library.

“These views run entirely contrary to Fresno State’s core values of diversity, equity and inclusion and the efforts of our campus community to live by those values,” Jimenez-Sandoval wrote. “The views attributed to Dr. Madden are more than allegations; they are reflections of his beliefs as captured in his own words, and in documents he curated and donated to the Library before his passing.”

The library has been named after Madden since 1981. Madden previously served as the university librarian starting in 1949, growing the library’s collection from 70,000 books to more than half a million volumes in the three decades before his retirement. The writings leading to the task force were donated by the Madden estate in 1982, but were stipulated to remain sealed until 2007.

The writings were uncovered by Dr. Bradley W. Hart during research for a 2018 book project, “Hitler’s American Friends,” with students in a class instructed by Dr. Lori Clune.

“I recognize that this news will deeply impact those in our community in a variety of ways,” Jimenez-Sandoval said. “First and foremost, I want members of our Jewish community to know that we stand with you and against both the historic and ongoing antisemitism that remains all too present in our society. As soon as I learned of this information, I shared it with Jerry Mann, chair of the President’s Jewish Leadership Council, who then shared it with the Council. I appreciate their willingness to work with us in our effort to ensure a safe and inclusive campus community.”

The process of naming a task force of students, faculty staff and community leaders is underway.

“Collectively, this task force will work expeditiously over the next weeks and months to develop a process that will serve our campus moving forward, and safeguard our standing as a leader in the community,” Jimenez-Sandoval said. “This task force will also consult with the Chancellor’s Office in regards to compliance with systemwide naming policies. We will share progress of this task force’s work as it gets underway.”