A voice for human rights, dignity: Building named after former GOP governor

A building to be constructed at the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in Boise will be named after Phil Batt.

The Philip E. Batt Building, a new education center, will be named to honor the former Republican governor and his work promoting human rights in Idaho.

“The one-of-a-kind human rights education center will be a ‘beacon of light’ in the heart of Idaho’s capital city,” said Dan Prinzing, the center’s executive director, in a press release. “In the center’s work to foster a climate and culture of upstanders who embrace respect, compassion, equality and justice for all, Gov. Batt’s life and legacy is a commitment to human rights.”

The Wassmuth Center for Human Rights is named after Bill Wassmuth, who played a pivotal role in protecting and preserving human rights in Kootenai County and throughout the Northwest.

The two-story education center will be adjacent to the Anne Frank Memorial in downtown Boise.

Batt, born in Wilder, served as Idaho’s governor from 1995 to 1999. Batt also served as chairman of the Idaho Republican Party, lieutenant governor and as a member of the Idaho Legislature in the state House and Senate. Batt’s contributions to human rights in Idaho include sponsoring the creation of the Idaho Human Rights Commission, and as governor, pushing through landmark legislation to cover Idaho’s Hispanic farm workers under the state’s workers' compensation program, according to the press release.

“Phil Batt has been a champion of all Idahoans for as long as I can remember-from the workers in the field to the executives in the boardroom … Phil has been a warrior for all human rights and is a worthy recipient of this honor and recognition,” said former Gov. Butch Otter.

The center's namesake, Bill Wassmuth, was a priest at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Coeur d’Alene.

“In the 1980s he found himself confronted with the misuse of theology for hateful aims by white supremacists settling in northern Idaho,” according to the Wassmuth Center website.

Wassmuth lived through the bombing of his home and built coalitions to battle the Aryan Nations as chair of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.

“Saying ‘yes’ to human rights is the best way to say ‘no’ to prejudice,” is an oft-repeated quote from Wassmuth.

After leaving Coeur d’Alene and the priesthood, Wassmuth continued his activism in Seattle as director of the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment.

When Wassmuth died in 2002, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne called him “an early voice for human rights and human dignity in our state.”

The Wassmuth Center for Human Rights was founded in 1996 for the purpose of constructing a memorial to human rights.

Construction of the Wassmuth Center’s Philip E. Batt Building will begin in mid-October with a projected open date of August 2023. The center’s Building Our Future campaign to fund construction of the project has raised $4.7 million with a goal of $5.5 million, according to the press release.