The president of Macalester College is asking his Board of Trustees to remove college founder Edward Duffield Neill's name from a campus building following public pressure from student activists and journalists who raised concerns about racist and sexist views the man promoted in the 1800s.
Macalester President Brian Rosenberg announced his decision on Neill Hall, which was renamed after the founder in 2013, at a faculty meeting this week. He said in a statement that his recommendation "is based on the racism reflected in his historical writings, which are extreme even by the standards of his time."
Rosenberg's move follows a growing list of battles in communities and on campuses across the country over prominent buildings and landmarks named for historical figures with views on race and gender that offend some modern sensibilities. Advocates of renaming say memorializing figures who held or promoted bigoted views and policies, such as supporting slavery, fuels systemic racism and oppression. Opponents argue the changes are unnecessary and amount to rewriting history.
This week the Minnesota Supreme Court heard arguments in a challenge to the state's decision to remove U.S. Vice President John C. Calhoun as the namesake of a popular south Minneapolis lake in favor of the Dakota name Bde Maka Ska. Other landmarks named after the 19th-century politician, who played a crucial role in establishing Fort Snelling, have been targeted across the country because of his support for slavery and American Indian removal.
Earlier this year, a University of Minnesota campus task force joined student activists seeking to rename four campus buildings named for administrators who supported segregation in residence halls in the 1930s and '40s. The Board of Regents ultimately rejected the idea, with members expressing discomfort with using today's standards to judge actions taken decades ago.
At Macalester, the move to rename Neill Hall comes after years of complaints from student activists, including members of the American Indian community. The push intensified this fall following a student-led roundtable that included a discussion of renaming as a form of restoring justice for marginalized groups.
"It's an effort from the college to show they're allies to indigenous communities and other repressed and minority voices," said Elika Somani, a student who organized the roundtable.
Somani, a sophomore, said she and other students felt uncomfortable walking into a building "knowing it's commemorating someone who has caused pain and grief for a large number of people."