Anonymous donors. This is a win all around, including fair restitution for the original donors.
And as far as the Calhoun residence hall goes…restitution is not an issue.
I don’t think Yale has to do any studies. 
This is from the last link…
http://www.live5news.com/story/29386563/john-c-calhoun-statue-vandalized-in-downtown-charleston
Charleston vs New Haven
Public space vs private space
I don’t know how to judge the difference
Looks like Memorial is a freshman dorm, one of 10 in the freshman commons, that houses about 80 students. https://www.vanderbilt.edu/resed/housing/tour-the-halls/
@alh, those are great links… Especially the first link.
This is about honoring somebody. Calhoun is the wrong guy to be honored. I think Yale will change the name eventually.
From your first link…
Nobody posted this…I am counting on posters… Come on…
This was two weeks ago…
Wow, My future granddaughter is going to put Yale on her future college list. More and more choices. 
There is a billionaire family called the Crown family, who made their money through founding what ultimately became General Dynamics. They have given extensively to both Northwestern and University of Chicago, with buildings on both campuses bearing the names of various Crown family members. They are also quite active in many pro-Israel causes (they are a Jewish family). Isn’t that uncomfortable for Palestinian students? Or students whose families may have come from areas where the US used General Dynamics weapons? Or students who object to “war proceeds”?
I know I’m pushing the point here, but it is fair to ask what % of the audience being “offended” has the right to effect change, or what are the core issues that mandate or call for removal of a name and who decides.
No one here is saying Calhoun was a great guy and people should shower the love. No one. There is unanimity that he was not someone you’d want in your family tree. And there are surely plenty of other jerks from the days of the old south who supported slavery, or who supported beliefs and behaviors that we abhor. This is not the issue. The fact that streets, statues, etc that honored them are being removed or changed is surely something most find enlightening. Having lived both in the north and the south, sadly some vestiges of the old south remain that make me shake my head in disbelief. On my drive home I pass a house that still flies a confederate flag. There is another house that… I kid you not… still has a lawn jockey, though they have painted it red, turned it sideways and put it inside the chained link fence of that yard. Until about 20 or so years ago there was a restaurant that made highly coveted fried chicken and the menus were sung to patrons by African-American boys who wore the menu items on a large blackboard around their neck. Seriously.
Change may be slow, and may be made on an individual basis. Perhaps following the awful shooting at the church in Charleston, change there might be fast-tracked. Will Calhoun St’.s name be changed? Perhaps. Today? Tomorrow? No.
Vandy possibly could have razed Memorial hall and built a new one that would have been more up to date and housed more than 80 freshmen. The probably pondered lots of things. Who knows what was discussed behind closed doors, what was in the original charter when the $ was donated for the building originally intended to provide free housing to girls at Peabody College who were descendants of Confederate soldiers, and who was solicited to contribute the anonymous $ to pay off the DOC. Oh to be a fly on the wall… So maybe the tenor will continue to change to the point that maybe Yale may consider a change to its tradition.
Uh oh… condolences, Yalies.
I went to Clemson University back in the 80s and there was a prominent building called Calhoun Hall among many other things named after him. Their honors college is named after.
RIP Handsome Dan. During my years there was a stuffed Handsome Dan (actual dog taxidermy-ified) in the Periodical Reading Room of Sterling Memorial Library! Times change, usually for the better…
How many people in this 32 page thread are even affiliated with Yale? It’s odd that people debate things that have ZERO impact on their own life.
I know, right? (How bout them Yankees?)
^^ @jd65432 I, for one, am affiliated with Yale (alum, donor) and I acknowledge that renaming Calhoun has virtually zero direct impact on my daily life. Nevertheless, Yale is an institution that is admired and does in fact set standards, so its stances are meaningful. In his freshman address to my class (fall 1980), President Giamatti had the audacity to challenge Falwell’s “Moral Majority” and it resonated with us as well as starting a national debate.
Giamatti was a good apple, @pickpocket .
JD65432 - I like to think about and discuss concepts. This has little to do with Yale per se - it’s just the pertinent example. Greater minds than mine have struggled with the balance of how best to acknowledge less savory parts of our history, warts and all. Certainly we wouldn’t argue we wouldn’t want to teach about Calhoun in history class for fear of offending or upsetting black students whose ancestors might have suffered.
What is your affiliation with Yale @jd65432? Or did you just join cc yesterday to post a snide comment in a thread that does not contribute to the discussion. Welcome to cc.
Yale’s students don’t return to campus for another week or two. Will be interesting to see how the discussion on campus continues, especially in light of Vandy’s step to remove “confederate” and Pres. Salovey said he would reopen the issue for further review.