When are they going to rename Yale over the slavery ties and illegal profiteering of its founder? Maybe they should go back to the “Collegiate School in the Colony of Connecticut,” which has a quaint ring to it!
“She is an alum of their grad school. Undergrad was Vassar- class of '28.”
well, she couldn’t have been an alum of Yale undergrad at that time.
^Calhoun was particularly egregious as he was not simply a slaveowner, but he actively promoted the “goodness” of slavery, and was rather successful at that. The article here is pretty complete (and straight from the horse’s mouth): http://news.yale.edu/2017/02/11/yale-change-calhoun-college-s-name-honor-grace-murray-hopper-0
In particular: "This principal legacy of Calhoun — and the indelible imprint he has left on American history conflicts fundamentally with the values Yale has long championed, said Salovey: “Unlike other namesakes on our campus, he distinguished himself not in spite of these views but because of them.”
Grace Murray Hopper is the alumna.
I am so happy about this change. As an African American alum, we have been decrying the name of Calhoun since the 70’s when I was there (78-82). It has been steady over the decades, yes decades. So it was not just the whining of the millenials that started this push. The Charleston Church Massacre and the outcry after that gave new legs to the issue. However, President Salovey decided not to change the name back in April. Alums and students of all backgrounds refused to allow that decision to stand unanswered so we continued to fight. There were some powerful alums on our side. As a school that values itself on diversity of thought, President Salovey decided to create the review committee to review all requests for changes to buildings at Yale to forestall a flood of requests. As an AA student and now alum, I know for a fact that Yale could not start removing the names of everyone who every owned a slave or had any racist inklings given the times that Yale was founded and its early history. Heck, if that was the criteria, the name of the university itself would have to change.
The criteria that was used to determine what was renamed was well thought out and Calhoun fit it perfectly. There were 4 principles the committee had to consider. What hits home the most was this one: whether the namesake’s PRINCIPLE legacy fundamentally conflicts with the university’s mission. Calhoun’s principle legacy was that of someone who used his offices (VP, Secretary of State, Secretary of War and US Senator) to advocate for slavery and white supremacy. He called slavery a “positive good” beneficial to the enslaved people and essential to the republican institutions. While there are founding fathers and men who trafficked in slavery during that time, most saw it as a “necessary evil” (arguably not better, but I’ll go along with that distinction).
Whatever your views, the alumni and student boards lit up last night with nothing but positive accolades for the change. I did of course find some comments, usually from persons who are neither alums or current students, who felt otherwise. To them, I say, worry about the names on buildings at your schools, and we’ll deal with Yale. We truly thought this day would never come and that Yale would never make this change. The enormity of it for me was like waking up one morning to find out that the election outcome was just a dream and the name of the President was different. That’s just how unlikely we thought this name change would be.
Students that are currently in Calhoun can decide whether to graduate under the Calhoun name (all Yale College graduates get two diplomas: one with Yale on it and the second with their college on it) or the Hopper one. Alums have been given the option of continuing to consider themselves graduates of Calhoun or change to the Hopper affiliation. All vestiges of Calhoun, including that reprehensible stained glass mural, will be removed from the college and displayed elsewhere on the campus. He is indeed part of Yale’s past, and should be remembered just like any other noteworthy person.
So now of the 14 residential colleges, we have two women represented!! Grace Hopper is indeed another Hidden Figure of the math / computer science world and her contributions are immeasurable. I’m going to have to step up my recruiting and and interviewing spiels. It was hard enough to change from 12 to 14, now I’ll have three names to add to my list, not just 2. Oh happy day!!
[snark]This should give him more time to find the contents of Al Capone’s safe.
He was an associate fellow; I think the abbreviation for that is asshat. [/snark]
Well of course that story gives none of the backstory. I doubt sincerely that any student or alum gives a rat’s patudy what he thinks. I didn’t even know he was associated with Yale. No loss.
@Tperry1982, that’s the point. If he hadn’t tweeted it, nobody would have noticed.
Looking up the list of Calhoun Fellows is instructive. Looks to be a low-key honorary affiliation, no big deal, not super newsworthy. (And I don’t see Geraldo Rivera on the list, though maybe he was swiftly purged.)
http:// calhoun.yalecollege.yale.edu /whos-who/calhoun-fellows
Guessing he just used the incident, such as it was, for some free publicity.
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It’s a sad sign of the times that people don’t even attempt to understand underlying facts and circumstances before they jump to the side they identify with. Here so many have set up a digital divide between PC/non PC when the issue before us is much more complex and nuanced. The Committee’s report did a wonderful job in setting out the principles to be considered whenever things are to be renamed. http://president.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/CEPR_FINAL_12-2-16.pdf. It’s unfortunate the Administration did not take this approach the first time around and come up with a defensible principled decision on the matter. Instead at the time the decision was made last year it seemed as if it were a series of political compromises that tossed a “bone” to various groups (naming of the 2 new colleges, not changing the name of Calhoun and changing “master” to “head”). I have friends and classmates on both sides of the debate, and for the most part the conversation has been civil, rational and principled (as I would expect from grads of Yale). Almost all of us agree that the April process was deeply flawed.
I also thought the process in April was wrong-headed, and I’m really glad it’s been revisited. I think the renaming principles are pretty good, so:
The answer is: never, at least until they revise these renaming principles.
I think most people are also hailing the choice of Hopper, who was one of the names on everybody’s list for one of the new colleges–only to be pushed out by that great old Yalie, Benjamin Franklin (ahem). The only criticism I’ve heard is from a few people who thought it should be another person of color, but there’s always going to be somebody unhappy with everything. I think Hopper is a great choice.
Does this mean @dstark will come back?
As a female computer science person, I agree that Hopper is a “big deal”. Every year there is a conference of female computer science professionals named after her, and I’ve known tons of women who have attended this (though I myself have not) http://ghc.anitaborg.org/
I actually wish that they had named one of the new colleges after her instead of renaming one after her. Its like a used title in a way. I would have rather they renamed this one Franklin and given her a fresh new college to be her legacy. That is where I think they went gravely wrong in this.
I was also in favor of using Hopper for one of the two new colleges, but am glad that she is getting this honor. I though the renaming process was well thought out leading to this result.
FWIW, I did not like either of the names Franklin or Murray. Franklin is too bland with minimal ties to Yale. I felt they overreached with Murray. I understand the arguments for naming a college after a woman or and an African American or someone not heterosexual. But they didn’t really need to achieve all those goals at once with a black woman who would likely have been transgender if such an option existed at the time. Murray is certainly noteworthy, but not worthy of a residential college name. I think the selection committee ended up choosing her because they could kill three birds with one stone rather than based on her merit alone.
It’$ a my$tery why Franklin was chosen. Who know$?
In that case, most colleges in the US would have to be renamed. ^ I see your point, though.
I am not a Yale alum, so I probably have no business meddling, but if I were part of the Yale community, I would have voted for renaming the college after Muhammad Ali.
Muhammad Ali was named after his father (Cassius M. Clay) who was named in honor of Cassius M. Clay a “fervent abolitionist who graduated from Yale in 1832”. According to sources documented in the Yale archives “no Southern man was so active in the anti-slavery case as Clay” and according to “American National Biography,” Clay “developed an economic critique of slavery that some historians consider to be the most penetrating analysis of slavery produced by a Southerner.”
When Muhammad Ali converted to Islam he decided to change his name, stating that his birth name was “a slave name,” adding, “I didn’t choose it and I don’t want it.” His new name, he noted, is “a free name” meaning “beloved of God.” Ali was a devoted Muslim. As a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War (his draft resistance case was heard by the Supreme Court in 1971), Ali was banned from professional boxing during his prime fighting years, a sacrifice that earned him international praise.
In essence, Calhoun College would trade it’s old “slave name” for a new “free name”. The new name would have global rather than local significance and signal the college’s move toward a new, more inclusive environment consistent with Yale’s new mission. History would not be lost because the new name would be linked to the old name through a Yale alum who appears to have fought as ardently against slavery as Calhoun did for slavery.
Analyzing and documenting the interplay between Ali’s, Clay’s and Calhoun’s life stories could lead to a deeper understanding of the institution of slavery including it’s impact on the present, and what it portends for the the future.
@Mastadon
Fascinating! Thank you for the share. I forwarded it to my son who will be happily enlightened.