Colleges Named After Bad Actors - and what actions can or should people take?

[DadOfJerseyGirl]

@thumper1

Think about the Tappan Zee bridge…which was named that because if the Dutch settlers there. It’s now the Cuomo Bridge

I didn’t know it had been renamed! And I’m a Jersey resident
There’s always something new to be learned on CC every day. Lol.

[thumper1]

They renamed it upon the completion of the bridge. It will take a couple of generations before that name catches on. I also heard there is something proposed to change the name back.

Another example…the Triborough Bridge was also renamed (is it the RFK now?). Come on…it connected three boroughs. A perfect name!

[twoinanddone]

@Sweetgum

@twoinanddone

but honestly, the names they are picking as replacements are so long and hard to remember that people will continue to call it Mt Evans.

I had to look up what they are proposing to rename Mt Evans. Says they are going to rename it Mt Blue Sky. That doesn’t see too long or hard to remember.

this is the one I was thinking of:

The Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board recommended changing the name of Squaw Mountain, located in Clear Creek County about 30 miles miles west of Denver, to Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain, which is pronounced “mess-taw-hay.”

And there are a few others:

Kaavapayawiyagat Gulch
Tabeguache Creek
Kaan Paachihpi

Those are all changes made by the dept of the Interior.

As people are driving west on Evans Ave (the street that runs through DU, to keep this on a college topic), they look up and see a mountain, Mt Evans, and they think “Hmm, Mt Evans.”

We have never accepted changing the name of Mile High stadium. They keep changing it, and we keep calling it Mile High. We build a new stadium and we call it Mile High.

[mtmind]

Hard to pronounce words? Oh, the horror.

[roycroftmom]

Many name changes never stick. 6th Ave was renamed Ave of the Americas in 1945 and no one in NYC calls it that.

[twoinanddone]

@mtmind

Hard to pronounce words? Oh, the horror.

If you come here and ask directions to Kaavapayawiyagat Gulch, no one will know what you are talking about. If you ask where Empower Field is, perhaps a “Huh?” and then if you ask where the Broncos play, the person will say “Oh, Mile High…” It hasn’t been Mile High for about 20 years because corporations pay big rights for naming rights, but the names just don’t catch on with the people

[mtmind]

IMO focusing on such things as naming rights for stadiums trivializes the issue, especially when compared to a university choosing to continue to honor a truly despicable figure.

[TomSrOfBoston]

There was a campaign to rename a bridge on Martha’s Vineyard for a certain senator but that never got much traction in Massachusetts.

[thumper1]

Yes…ah bridge names

[twoinanddone]

@mtmind

IMO focusing on such things as naming rights for stadiums trivializes the issue, especially when compared to a university choosing to continue to honor a truly despicable figure.

Most stadiums and arenas are publicly owned, and many don’t want them named after companies they don’t like, such as Chick-fil-A, Bank of America, Mercedes - and now Bud Light. But the cities like the money they get from selling the naming rights. Some colleges accept money from some not-so-nice people with the agreement to name the building or the library or something else after the donor.