The New York Times published a letter to the editor penned by President Joan Hinde Stewart in its June 30 issue under the headline “Don't Diminish Hamilton.”
While emphasizing the Treasury’s need “to make room for a woman on our currency,” Stewart pointed out aspects of Hamilton’s life on which few others have focused in their defense of his continued presence on the bill.
“Alexander Hamilton’s rise to eminence exemplifies exactly the ideals that this immigrant nation has always espoused,” she wrote. “... he went on to become one of the men most influential to the independence and formation of the new Republic,” she noted.
“As an educator who believes deeply in making higher education possible for talented and deserving young people regardless of their financial means, I urge Treasury Secretary Jack Lew ... in no way to diminish the face of the man whose trajectory is an eloquent testimony to America’s most traditional values.” The letter also referenced the fact that “Hamilton was also one of the first trustees of the institution that became Hamilton College.”
