At the start of this thread, I was leaning in favor of renaming, but I think I’ve changed my mind since then. It’s refreshing to have a change of opinion from an Internet discussion.
I agree with PG, etc. on putting up plaques, posters, etc. You can’t rename everything, and I think even the name Yale is just as bad as the name Calhoun. Yale was a slave trader, and the fact that he is now better known as the university’s founder just says that people have forgotten about the horrible things he did. Instead, his name should stay on - after all, you can’t take off the founder’s name - but there needs to be a lot more discussion and physical reminders on campus that there was quite a bit of nasty white supremacism in the founding and history of Yale, even into the 20th century.
Small quibble - Yale’s CDS says there are 1635 part/fulltime faculty, so the 400 signatures don’t represent a majority of the academic staff.
As I noted above in post #663 (hopefully somebody is reading…) They just put a plaque outside the Ezra Stiles dining hall. So plaques are a part of the process of addressing the issues.
Ya know, @usualhopeful , I smiled when I read your post #700, because my feelings have shifted a bit too as I have read this thread-- but in the opposite direction. I was pretty adamant that the longstanding tradition, the powerful identity of the members of each residential college, the lifelong bond to and quasi sibling relationship of the members of the residential colleges would be forever changed in an unfortunate way if they change the name of the college. I felt that surely there were other ways to address this issue, as there would be lots of very upset alums, many of whom are generous donors. But that said, I am thinking that there are probably plenty of upset alums with large checkbooks on both sides of this issue. It is an issue that will, unfortunately, forever change the school in some way, no matter what they ultimately decide.
I think the volume of the concern (meaning the noise) will increase when the students return to campus shortly, and the school is trying to do damage control and take charge of the situation while carefully keeping the dialogue open. If they do ultimately choose to change the name, while I still prefer they not for the reasons I have explained, I understand and accept the reasons for the decision they choose, and somehow, thinking of calling it Kingman Brewster College, should they consider that, gives me a sense of calm. He was a beloved president during very difficult times, and his name might resurrect a collective joy and cohesiveness that the school could use at this time.
There are many constituencies involved here, including faculty, students, alumni and others connected with the university. For details on how the students feel about it, see the survey undertaken by the Yale Daily News here: http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/09/14/students-speak-firmly-on-master-split-by-calhoun/ . As is apparent, at the least, there is no consensus among students, and particularly 'Hounies, to change the name. I haven’t seen any surveys of alumni, but I doubt they’re more pro-renaming than the students and faculty.
@awcntdb while I don’t disagree that @dstark and anyone else has the right to express their opinion, and that because of Yale’s position in our society this could be viewed as a matter of public interest, my comment that @dstark had “no dog in this fight” was prompted by @dstark’s comment upthread criticizing those “with no dog in the fight” for opposing renaming. Given that @dstark apparently has no direct connection to Yale or Calhoun, and many with a different point of view do, I felt that couldn’t be allowed to pass without comment.
I agree with you, @DeepBlue86, that those who haven’t had some direct experience with Yale and the residential colleges have a different perspective. Am not sure if the feeling is as strong at other Universities with only a residential college system (i.e. no other on-campus housing option, with every student being assigned to a residential college upon admission). It seems pretty strong at my DS #1’s school, and there is plenty of friendly rivalry between the RCs , but I am not sure if there would be as strong a sense of outrage if they considered changing the name of any of the original RCs (like Yale is now doing, Rice added a few in the past several years, and one of the newer RC’s was, for quite a while, known as “not a college”). There seems, at least to me, to be a unique sense of identity with one’s RC at Yale. My feeling has changed from “hell no” to “hopefully they can come up with another solution, but time will tell, and it is an understandably sensitive issue”.
@jym626, might be more than 400 signatures You will have to ask the professor how he came to his conclusion.
@DeepBlue86, I never said I had a dog in the fight. Never. Many posters here know I didn’t go to Yale. I was addressing those with no dog in the fight as a person with no dog in the fight. Sorry if you think you were misled.
I read… Heck I posted the links to the Yale Daily News articles on the A&S and Senate meetings and signatures. They said there were 400 signatures. That’s not at issue. What is at issue is that that seems to represent 25% of the faculty- not a majority of the faculty.
I have been sort of imagining some of us, without a dog in this fight, were using the Calhoun naming example to consider larger societal implications of systemic institutional racism.
Perhaps this article addresses your confusing about the # of faculty addressing their concern, @dstark. It says that the majority of ladder faculty (tenured/tenure track faculty) are willing to voice their concern. But they are not a majority of the entire faculty.
That’s not how I read it, @dstark . The senate was a separate vote-- 18-1. Then there was the open letter to the president with the signatures. There many have been other letters but they don’t sound like they had multiple signatures…
The fact still remains that Black students at Yale think living/ residing in Calhoun is a toxic environment for them- and a majority of Yale students agree that it is oppressive and unreasonable to ask them to stay and suffer in the status quo.
How do you all, that are not in favor of changing the name, suggest to change the Calhoun environment for those students? (And please do not insult the students and say they should choose not to be offended… disavowing racism isn’t going to work here) I would be curious to hear your solutions.
@dstark, that poll you say is old was taken less than a year ago, and I’m not aware of a newer one. Are you, or do you have any reason to think that opinions have changed significantly since that poll was taken?
I commented that “there is no consensus among students, and particularly 'Hounies, to change the name.” That statement is supported by the quote you reproduced from the article. What you didn’t reproduce is the other supporting sentence farther down in the article, which states that 34% of 'Hounies support renaming and 52% oppose it.
It may well be, as you predict, that the name will be changed and that a majority of students will “get more educated” and support it. Unless I’ve missed it, though, I don’t think you’ve provided any evidence to support that prediction.
I don’t want to put words in the professors’ mouths. The professors, who are educating Yale students, have explained why they want the name changed. I posted some links, but anybody can find the professors’reasonings.
The Yale president backtracked. Anybody can read what he said too.
I don’t think it’s so much about changin the environment - from what I understand, the community is very nice and there’s not much racial tension, at least outside of the renaming controversy.
So instead, I think the poster needs to stay up, and I think maybe incoming Hounies could get a booklet sort of thing explaining the history of the namesake and of the college - what we admire about him today, what things are bad, why the name was chosen (not glossing over the fact that Yale leadership was still very racist in 1933), and what controversies have followed.
“The results of a recent survey by the News, which received responses from more than 1,700 students, demonstrate a disconnect between how students feel on the issues and how they expect administrators to decide them.
Fifty-five percent of respondents called on the University to rename Calhoun College, while 45 percent believe the title of “master” should be changed. An overwhelming 82 percent said a concerted effort should be made to name one or both of the new colleges after a woman or person of color.”
