Vanderbilt pays $1.2M to remove ‘Confederate’ from dorm name

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7 mins ago by ERIK SCHELZIG, Associated Press

... The private university has referred to the Confederate Memorial Hall simply as “Memorial Hall” since 2002, but was blocked in court from changing the name on the building because it was constructed with the help of a $50,000 gift from the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1933.

Under the agreement announcement Monday, Vanderbilt will pay $1.2 million, the equivalent of the gift made 83 years ago, to the organization’s Tennessee chapter. In exchange, the chapter will relinquish its naming rights to the building.

Vanderbilt says the money will come from anonymous donors ...

http://clarksvillenow.com/local/vanderbilt-pays-1-2m-to-remove-confederate-from-dorm-name/

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1. Vanderbilt to Officially Rename 'Confederate Memorial' Hall

STEVEN HALE AUG. 15, 2016 2:44 P.M.

... University Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos announced the decision Monday afternoon and released a video explaining the move ...

Vanderbilt's decision comes at the same time that activists continue their push to have Middle Tennessee State University's Forrest Hall — named after former Ku Klux Klan leader and Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest — renamed.

http://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pith-in-the-wind/article/20830807/vanderbilt-to-officially-rename-confederate-memorial-hall

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2. Vanderbilt Settles With Daughters Of The Confederacy

By BLAKE FARMER • 30 MINUTES AGO

... Vanderbilt tried to rename Memorial Hall in 2002, but the Daughters of the Confederacy sued, arguing breach of contract. The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled that Vanderbilt could only drop the name if it paid back the money. The school opted to save the $900,000 "rather than enrich an organization whose values it does not share," states a press release from 2015.

But Chancellor Nick Zeppos says the time has come to pay up ...

Zeppos ... sees the renaming as being true to the original vision of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who wanted to contribute to healing following the Civil War.

An anonymous donor has put up the money and specifically designated it for the renaming ...

http://nashvillepublicradio.org/post/vanderbilt-settles-daughters-confederacy-pays-12m-rename-memorial-hall#stream/0

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3. Vanderbilt to remove controversial inscription from residence hall

Posted: Aug 15, 2016 3:16 PM EDT
Updated: Aug 15, 2016 3:17 PM EDT
Posted by Chuck Morris

... The Vanderbilt Board of Trust, which governs the school, authorized Zeppos earlier this summer to take action to remove the name.

“While we recognize and study our past, the considerations of our present and our future must guide our decision making,” said Shirley Collado, who chaired the Board of Trust ad hoc committee that studied the issue. “This is a necessary and important step to continue to enhance the university’s ability to attract the most talented students and to ensure that our campus community is a welcoming place for all students to thrive and to learn” ...

http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/32762926/vanderbilt-to-remove-controversial-inscription-from-residence-hall

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4. Vanderbilt removing controversial 'Confederate' inscription from residence hall

BY KAYLIN SEARLES
MONDAY, AUGUST 15TH 2016

... Zeppos also announced that the university will establish a major annual conference on race, reconciliation and reunion.

http://fox17.com/news/local/vanderbilt-removing-controversial-confederate-inscription-from-memorial-hall

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5. Vanderbilt to remove 'Confederate' from building name

Adam Tamburin
3:02 p.m. CDT August 15, 2016

... The building, which has had that name etched into the stone above its entrance since it opened in 1935, stands in the heart of the university's freshman commons, and has frequently spurred debate about the university's attitude toward its black students ...

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2016/08/15/vanderbilt-remove-confederate-building-name/88771680/

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6. K&R...

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7. Message from Chancellor Zeppos on Memorial Hall resolution

Aug. 15, 2016, 1:45 PM

... Ever since I joined the Vanderbilt community in 1987, the residence hall bearing the inscription Confederate Memorial Hall has been a symbol of exclusion, and a divisive contradiction of our hopes and dreams of being a truly great and inclusive university.

It spoke to a past of racial segregation, slavery, and the terrible conflict over the unrealized high ideals of our nation and our university, and looms over a present that continues to struggle to end the tragic effects of racial segregation and strife. The name is discordant with our own work under the founding charge of Cornelius Vanderbilt, to find union and healing after the bloodshed of the Civil War. The project of Vanderbilt, much like the project of America, reveals that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Written promises that “all are created equal,” and that our Vanderbilt community embraces “we the people,” gain legitimacy and power only when we take actions to ensure inclusion, not exclusion. Only then can we find our way forward to that “beloved community” ...

http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2016/08/chancellor-memorial/