There are bigger fish to fry IMO than the name of a dorm.
Or, just change one letter which makes it sound almost the same: “McKill”
Let’s say I’m an African Americsn student at Yale and my goal is to help young African American students who show academic promise. What will impact more peopje for the positive -
a) starting some kind of tutoring program for at-risk youth in New Haven or elsewhere;
b) advocating for increased funding of poor schools via supporting political candidates;
c) increasing awareness of the fine financial aid Yale offers to AA students of promise who may erroneously think Yale is out of reach for them;
d) raising awareness of disparate treatment of blacks in the law enforcement/justice systems; or
e) changing the sign on a dorm from Calhoun Hall to (whatever) Hall, a dorm seen only by already-privileged Yale students in the first place?
Clue: if you are at Yale, you’ve already won the lottery here. To mix my metaphors, you’re now on third base rounding towards home. Has this action benefited anyone other than your fellow third basers?
Rather than trying to erase history by removing symbols and names, college students should learn that all history is nuanced. Would taking Yale’s name off the college remove the fact that the college was founded with money from the slave trade? Should Duke be renamed because the Dukes made their money by selling tobacco and giving people cancer? What about other universities named after or financed by robber barons? What about taking scholarship money named after or financed by people who by today’s morality would be shunned?
The lesson in all this is for college students to consider the past not as a black and white affair but as many shades of gray. And to consider what in today’s world, things that they are doing and thinking nothing of, will or could be considered immoral or illegal in the future.
@Postmodern , vitriol is a way excessive word here. I don’t see any vitriol, but rather a plea for college students to view history within its context. Some of these protests border on absurd (or are absurd…Oberlin and the General Tso’s chicken row.) Political correctness has been beneficial in the many of the ways it ought to be, but it goes too far when students ignore the context behind something that never had any malicious intent.
Not so long ago, a confederate flag was seen as a relic of a bygone era, until it clearly became a symbol of “white supremacy” and racism. It is totally appropriate that it is no longer flown over state Capitol buildings. Demanding the renaming of a building because the long-deceased honoree supported slavery is not in the same category. Unless of course there is a group out there advocating the reinstatement of the “peculiar institution,” in which case, I am pretty sure Calhoun isn’t aware of it.
Seems that CSA flags were symbols of white supremacy and racism from the origin of the CSA, based on [what the seceding states’ governments wrote in 1861](Search | American Battlefield Trust).
There are probably some around the state government buildings in Mississippi and Georgia, since CSA flag designs are parts of those states’ flags.
Keep it on topic people. Dunkin’ Donuts in Saudi Arabia is way off, and let’s not get into a debate over the Confederate flag.
I would take that another step, @Pizzagirl, and say that I am convinced you cannot judge historic figures by today’s standards.
I think you are wrong on that last point, @postmodern, at least in the sense they object to having it taught in their college, and/or demand things like trigger warnings if it is going to be used.
I don’t think most people have any problem with young people peacefully enacting change. It is when what they want to change makes no sense to anyone with a modicum of education and intelligence. Some things they are protesting for are highly admirable, others are downright nonsense. Obviously that is just my opinion, but I think it is fairly widespread, which is why you get the pushback. Halloween costumes, really? Wanting to have a professor fired because they used the word ghetto? And to get back to the OP’s point, where is the consistency when they don’t apply the same standards in all cases? Are all the historical labor leaders and black leaders and so on and so forth saints? Of course not. Should we roll back everything that is named after them? What a silly waste of time and energy and focus from things that truly need to be changed.
@Lindagaf , I appreciate your position, and maybe I did get a bit hyperbolic, but I just went back and read a few of the comments here (and I was also referring to those I read elsewhere) and I don’t think it is out of range.
I might agree there are more productive places to put efforts, but these are passionate young people, and the issue is real. If you’ve seen the sculpture and inscription on the Brown campus – as powerful a mea culpa as I have seen – you know it is possible.
Dream job.
@Pizzagirl , there is more to complain of about Willard than just the imple fact of her leadership of the WCTU:
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/25/134849480/the-root-how-racism-tainted-womens-suffrage
I really abhor historical revisionism, but it’s far too simplistic to say that we can’t judge people in the past by contemporary standards. We are always judging people in the past by contemporary standards. Calhoun College at Yale stands as a reminder not only that John C. Calhoun was considered an important American political figure in the 1840s and 1850s, but also that in the 1930s Yale did not consider his identification with pro-slavery politics to disqualify him for the honor of having a residential college named after him, and that in 2016 that can still be outweighed by the combined force of his other virtues and tradition. It’s legitimate to ask whether that balance might be struck differently were the people doing the balancing the descendants of slaves. I think you will find that opinions about the importance of Richard Wagner’s or T.S. Eliot’s antisemitism relative to their artistic achievements differ significantly – on average, not in every case – among Christians, Muslims, and Jews.
I really hope I am not. But of course I have no evidence!
I’d agree with this even though we might disagree on certain line-items. They are young people learning. Let them do their thing as long as their intent is good. As long as there is action, change will happen where it should.
Agree on Frances Willard re blacks - was just keeping it simple for illustrative purposes.
I’m not sure the answer to finding out yesterday’s heroes are flawed in today’s light is to wipe them away. Can’t they be presented as … They did some really good things and they did some bad things too? Like, you know, 99% of all humans?
I am not AT ALL certain of that.
@Postmodern, your position that young people need to be able to be obnoxious or foolish upon occasion in order to learn and grow is, ironically, precisely that made by Erica Christakis. 
@Pizzagirl , I agree that the list of social justice activities you suggest are all more effective than campaigning to change the name of Calhoun College–and at Yale, one’s college is far more than just a dorm–but it is perfectly possible that those involved are doing both.
I completely agree that what is needed is more of a sense of history and a more nuanced view in general.
Should or should not historical figures be judged by today’s standards? Obviously not, at least not literally. But it is possible to discern that an individual’s actions show that s/he was inclined towards kindness and mercy and justice for his or her time. And so forth.
Yeah, that is exactly what I said.
I am glad cursing is not allowed here.
While I think the students are naive, that is what I expect from them at this stage in their lives. I am more bewildered and angered by the lack of backbone in several college administrations that seem more inclined to bend in the wind to simplistic demands instead of helping students understand that the real world is complicated and requires that one see many sides of an issue that impacts many stakeholders. Once both parties fully understand the implications of choices then I think you have the basis for mature decisions to be made.
@Postmodern
You didn’t suggest that students have the right to be obnoxious. People are reading things into your comments. Thanks for offering a counterpoint. It’s very easy for us elders to sit in judgement of youth and find fault.
Nobody is suggesting disrespectful behavior is acceptable form of protest. Rather that questioning is part of an education.
Curious at the suggestion that if you receive funding from the college you need to just stay quiet or get out. My son will be receiving partial funding from Yale to attend. I guess we should prorate out his rights to an opinion or participate in debate. Great that those kids who are fortunate to be wealthy have the right to unfettered speech. Good to know…
I’ve had plenty of current students tell us this is all hyped by the media…seems it’s working as we are back at it again. Nothing says Back To School like a controversy 
Outside of college, lots of politics and political actions involve simplistic slogans and demands, with little consideration of how complex a given issue may be, or how doing something about it may affect many stakeholders or others (often in ways unforeseen or counterproductive to the intent of the activists and politicians on the issue). So that is not unique to college.
I’m sorry. I don’t get your point. Cursing? At whom? Why?
@tonymom, I, for one, find the idea that those on FA should refrain from participating fully in campus debate completely unacceptable.
@Consolation
So do I. It’s totally absurd but has been suggested…go figure.
My point is you completely made something up and attributed it to me. Not cool.
If you want to quote someone, copy and paste between “quote” and “/quote”