After months of turmoil on campus, encouraging news came from Yale University this week. The university will keep Calhoun College’s name, rather than give into students petitioning the university to who call the name ‘racist.’
On Wednesday, Yale President Peter Salovey announced that the decision was intended to “to encourage the campus community to confront the history of slavery, and to teach that history and its legacy.”
In a letter to the community, he elaborated:
Ours is a nation that continues to refuse to face its own history of slavery and racism. Yale is part of this history, as exemplified by the decision to recognize an ardent defender of slavery by naming a college for him. Erasing Calhoun’s name from a much-beloved residential college risks masking this past, downplaying the lasting effects of slavery, and substituting a false and misleading narrative, albeit one that might allow us to feel complacent or, even, self-congratulatory. Retaining the name forces us to learn anew and confront one of the most disturbing aspects of Yale’s and our nation’s past. I believe this is our obligation as an educational institution.
There will be an “interactive history project” to further examine Calhoun’s legacy. A competition will also be held asking students to “propose works that respond to the realities and consequences of Calhoun’s life.” The winning entry will be displayed permanently at Calhoun College.
Calhoun’s legacy will be contrasted with two new residential colleges named after Yale graduates. Anna Pauline Murray was a Yale alumna and a civil rights leader. Benjamin Franklin, in addition to receiving an honorary degree in 1753, “toward the end of his life became a leader in the emerging abolitionist movement.”
In other changes, the title of “master” will become “head of college.” Masters had already been phasing out the term. According to Salovey, “the reasons to change the title of ‘master’ proved more compelling than the reasons to keep it, and the current masters themselves no longer felt it appropriate to be addressed in that manner.”
Princeton announced earlier this month it would keep Woodrow Wilson’s name on campus for similar reasons Salovey cited. Had either Princeton or Yale changed names, they would be giving into students across the country who have been attempting to remove parts of history from campus.
