Causing Controversy: What is in a name?

There is no doubt that morals and ethical values have changes throughout the history of our nation. At the birth of the United States, people believe that it was ethically just to enslave others and to not consider women as equal parts of society. Now, in the twenty first century, slavery is illegal, women’s suffrage is a norm, and equality between genders is more balanced than ever before.

Although it is obvious that society has advanced in its views of civil rights and ethical decision-making criteria, this nation cannot escape the past. In the U.S. there are holidays, statues and monuments, schools, and buildings to honor influential people from decades before. These influencers made major contributions for different communities and/or the United States, earning their place in history. 

The majority of university buildings are named after the kind of people described above. In theory, this makes perfect sense. Higher education institutions want to show off their prestigious alumni, donors, founders and past faculty. They are a place of education and aim to celebrate history. However, with the help of technology and historical records, information being unearthed has begun to reveal controversial information about some of these influencers.

Recently, at the University of Minnesota (U of M)-Twin Cities, it has become very public that the gentleman their student union is named after, Lotus D. Coffman, outwardly promoted segregation on campus. Coffman was a past president of the university. During his term, he wrote a letter defending segregated housing in which it stated, “The races have never lived together, nor have they ever sought to live together.” (Coffman, 1931). This letter is now on display in an exhibit at the U of M titled, “A Campus Divided: Progressives, Anti-Communists, and Anti-Semitism at the University of Minnesota, 1930-1942”. Since this information has become so prevalent, the question is being raised if the student union should be named after a campus administrator who fought so hard to keep the school segregated. According to the Association of College UnionsInternational (1956), “The union serves as a unifying force that honors each individual and values diversity. The union fosters a sense of community that cultivates enduring loyalty to the college.” University administrators and students are questioning if the space is able to serve such a purpose when it has a name that represents hatred, segregation, and inequality.

Yale University is another notable case of this situation. In 2010, students at Yale University began the push to ask the university to rename Calhoun College. Calhoun College is named after John C. Calhoun, a former U.S. vice president and prominent white supremacist. After almost a decade of push back from students as well as back and forth deliberation on the topic, the university decided to take a firm stance. In 2017, the university announced that they would be changing the name of the college. In the statement announcing the name change, Yale University President Peter Salovey states, “John C. Calhoun’s legacy as a white supremacist and a national leader who passionately promoted slavery as a ‘positive good’ fundamentally conflicts with Yale’s mission and values,” (Yale,2017).

The U of M and Yale University are not the only schools facing this kind of dilemma. There is beginning to be list of universities who are being confronted by their students. Students are asking administrators to change the name of campus building, based on who they are named after and that person’s affiliations. Some institutions have successfully changed the names of buildings named after members of the Klan or affiliated with white supremacy, the while others have been unsuccessful in its efforts. Some believe the decision to rename a building because of these circumstances is a no brainer, while others are torn on the situation or think it renaming would do an injustice to the nations history.

           

There is currently no straightforward solution to this situation or a manual on what administrators should do. This is a fairly new issue facing the field of higher education and will begin to be evaluated in the years to come. 

Sources:

Association of College Unions International. (1956). Role of the college union.

Retrieved from http://www.acui.org/rolestatement

Coffman, L. D. (1931, October 05). Coffman Letter to L.O. Smith of the NAACP [Letter

to L. C. Smith]. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Yale University (2017). Yale to change Calhoun College’s name to honor Grace Murray Hopper   
            [Press release]. Retrieved from https://news.yale.edu/2017/02/11/yale-change-calhoun-       
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