Rename Sarah B. Bryan Memorial Scholarship (Fire Protection Engineering, University of Maryland)

Sign the Petition at change.org to rename the Sarah B. Bryan Memorial Scholarship, University of Maryland,

Department of Fire Protection Engineering

Thank You

https://www.change.org/NoChildAbuse

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The Sarah B. Bryan Memorial Scholarship at the University of Maryland (UMD) Department of Fire Protection Engineering should be renamed or discontinued. Sarah Bryan embodied values inconsistent with any ethical, self-respecting institution. The scholarship is based on a false and dishonest description of her life, actions and character.

My father, John Bryan, set up the Sarah B. Bryan Memorial Scholarship in 1997 after Sarah died from lung cancer following a quarter century of smoking. I knew about the scholarship at the time, though no one asked me about it or bothered to show me the materials they prepared, which I only found after John’s death and which present Sarah as an enlightened humanitarian, “role model, supporter, and friend" for her children (hello?) and rope me in as a character reference and supposed example of her wondrous "intelligence, convictions, courage and character".

This is bullshit.

Sarah was a bigot and a child abuser. She opposed the civil rights movement and desegregation and liked saying that UMD admitted "too many black basketball players", that she was proud to be a "loudmouth white woman" and that Martin Luther King had "deserved" to be shot (which she oddly also said of the Manson victims). She refused to read, cared nothing about the world, and refused to associate with anyone who did. She regularly criticized other UMD families behind their backs as "too smart" and "not normal". She was a complete piece of shit to me.

So be it.

Sarah was what she was and made zero effort to be anything else. Nor did she want to be anything else. If folks are into that, go for it. But don’t lie about it and don’t make up some boilerplate fiction that pretends otherwise. Above all, do not pretend to use me as a character reference with made-up quotes and opinions about Sarah that are grotesque fantasy.

There is no question of UMD returning the money. UMD should continue to provide scholarships as they see fit but without pretending that Sarah was something that she wasn’t and attributing quotes and opinions to me that are blatantly untrue.

Joan Bryan with 2016 recipients