Oregon State Debates Renaming ‘Racist’ Buildings That Weren't Actually Named For Racists

ashley.rae | September 6, 2017
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Oregon State University will be reevaluating the names of four buildings after students spent a week protesting against the structures' “racist” names.

OregonLive reports OSU president Ed Ray created a workgroup to debate the names of four buildings on campus, including Arnold Dining Hall, Avery Lodge, Benton Hall, and Gil Coliseum. While none of the buildings were names after Robert E. Lee or Christopher Columbus, students still claim the names are "racist" in their own way.

In March, the Corvallis Gazette-Times reported for one week in February, students interrupted class to chant, “These racist buildings have got to go!”

One of the most controversial buildings is Gill Coliseum, which OregonLive reports was named after men’s basketball coach Amory “Slats” Gill. The  Corvallis Gazette-Times claims students are upset over the name of the building because Gill allegedly refused to “integrate” his team, despite historians pointing out that there was a black player on his team.

It should be noted that until 1926, it was technically illegal for blacks to even live in Oregon. Gill was the basketball coach from 1928 until 1964.

Another dubious “racist” name belongs to Benton Hall. While protesters claim the building was named after Thomas Hart Benton, who was allegedly a white supremacist, the school has stated it was actually named after Benton County. Despite this, OSU is still reviewing Thomas Benton's legacy, and will be conducting a “historical inquiry” into all of the controversial names.

In a statement on the OSU website, the school claims that community members raised the “important question” of, “What does it mean for OSU to value equity and inclusion if individuals after whom its buildings are named did not?” when they were protesting.

The Architectural Naming Committee, the Building and Place Name Evaluation Subcommittee, the Building and Place Name Evaluation Workgroup consist of university staff members, professors, alunni, and students who will decide the fate of the buildings in question.

The FAQ for the project claims the names of the buildings will be reevaluated to see if they fit the current “values” of the school. Even if a building’s name is not changed, the FAQ says the school will place “permanent educational information” so that future students understand why the name was not changed:

If a decision is made to not change the name of a building, the name of the building will remain, but the university will create and place permanent educational information so that current and future community members will be able to learn about the building’s name and history of its namesake, why the name was evaluated, and why a decision was made to leave the name. This permanent education could be in the form of a plaque, exhibit, website or other mediums.

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