PROVIDENCE, R.I. --City politicians of Italian descent are still irate over Brown University's decision to drop any reference in the school's academic calendar to "Columbus Day" in favor of something more mundane: "Fall Weekend."

City Councilor Nicholas Narducci, who represents the Charles neighborhood in the city's northern end, sent a letter of protest to Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons on Wednesday, calling the move an attempt at "revisionist history."

Narducci said that in setting out across the Atlantic Ocean, Columbus "contributed greatly" to a better understanding of "the Earth's dimensions" at a time when that was a subject of immense debate and speculation.

"I am concerned that the 'alleged' improprieties of Christopher Columbus have become political fodder for a group of Native American students at the expense of a respected historical figure," Narducci said in his letter.

Indigenous groups throughout the Americas have opposed celebrating Columbus Day as a national holiday since his voyages are credited as opening the door for European conquest and colonization that led to the decline of indigenous American cultures.

Narducci's statement follows Mayor David N. Cicilline's public rebuke last week of Brown, his alma mater.

Cicilline said in a statement that he objected to the university's decision because it diminished the accomplishments of an important historical figure for Italian Americans.

He said that it was wrong for the university to "simply erase the celebration of an incredibly significant moment in world history and Italian-American culture for the sake of political correctness."

Columbus was the Italian explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean in the late 15th and early 16th century led to widespread awareness of the American continents in Europe. His first voyage to the Americas, under the banner of Spain, was in 1492.
Today

Columbus Day is a federal holiday that has been celebrated on Oct. 12 in the U.S. since 1905. Other Latin American countries also recognize the holiday but with different names. Not all U.S. states and cities recognize it as a legal holiday.