"He Cannot Be Easily Purged"

"Serra's nature is open to debate. Once revered in history books as a protector of California Indians against the brutalities of the invading Spanish military—and canonized as a saint by Pope Francis in 2015—Serra's reputation has been tarnished by leftist thinking that regards all things Spanish and Catholic in the New World as colonialist oppression.

"But that ought to be beside the point. Serra is inextricably intertwined with the history of Stanford University, and the history of California itself."

Charlotte Allen in the Los Angeles Times argues that Junipero Serra "could be said to have invented the Golden State."