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Update on Residence Halls renaming & Paul Queally

Yes. The social media world and message boards are certainly something that amplify voices both positively and negatively, and I am happy I am not growing up with that pressure. however, my kids are, and I am trying to work with them not to screw up their future by doing something thoughtlessly now.

Nevertheless, I still stick to my guns that the comparison between Washington and Freeman/Ryland is made of straw, and I find it hard to believe how dug in people are over these nobodies.
 
I don think it is about these people. It’s about admitting wrongs were WRONG, and never to be done again.
History and man are not, nor will they ever be perfect. Those that think by changing a name will rectify the past
are naive at best.
 
I don think it is about these people. It’s about admitting wrongs were WRONG, and never to be done again.
History and man are not, nor will they ever be perfect. Those that think by changing a name will rectify the past
are naive at best.
Just like we have all heard; those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. I think that rings pretty true even on an individual level, if I just choose not to think about something bad I did in the past I will likely do it again. Not saying if we erase anything to do with slavery that we will have slavery again but I’m sure negatives would come out of erasing everything from that era, they already have.
 
I will not have forgotten about this regarding these two characters. In fact, had the issue not been raised by the black student group, I would have never known about them. History will not be forgotten - these two folks were particularly scummy and probably should not be celebrated or honored by naming a dumb building after them. But again, that’s not what this is about.
 
Opens up opportunities for sponsorship from Bang Bros, Vixen and the like. Smart, revenue-generating opportunities.

Someone recently pointed out hey how about just naming building after colors. Simple right. Except building colors would be immediately canceled. Blue and pink certainly out. Same with white black brown yellow and red.
 
Just finished watching Dopesick. At least we don't have a Sackler Hall. Our pharmaceutical heritage is much more benign even taking the Dalkon shield into account.
 
We have a Wood Hall already so I think Mo is on to something. Boner and Stiffy are possibilities.
 
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Our pharmaceutical heritage is much more benign even taking the Dalkon shield into account.
AH Robins and the Dalkon shield had a huge detrimental effect on minorities and women. The sterilizations were in the tens to hundreds of thousands. If they were serious and had the courage, the school should rename every building associated with the Robins family at UR. One of the criteria was whether the individual was associated with a crime.
 
Understand the first Duke of Richmond held serfs before the practice was abolished by the English in 1574. Maybe we should rename the school and the city? o_O
 
Following the release of the final report from the renaming principles commission a few days ago, the trustees have voted to change the names of Ryland, Freeman, Thomas, Jeter, Brunet, and Puryear.

They can change the name but it will always be Jeter Hall to me. During my stay, I had no idea why it was named Jeter nor did I care.
 
I don't want to get into the politics of this decision but surely they could have been more creative than Residence Hall 1 etc. At least it could have been something like Brick Hall for any of the buildings, or Tower Hall (for Thomas).
 
Jeter and Thomas have historical linkage to their new names, having been originally called Dormitory 1 and 2, but Freeman as Residence Hall 3 is lacking. Hoped those would be placeholder names, but it appears not.

Puryear becoming Fountain Hall is fine with me, though it’s a little awkward since it’s not the central building of the three around the fountain.

Sarah Brunet changing back to The Refectory is a nice historical restoration, though it’s no longer a refectory and most people probably have no idea what the word means anyway.

Ryland becoming Humanities Building is rather dry, but at least it’s reflective of the expanded purpose of the building post-renovation.
 
You either go all in 1 or the other - there is no middle ground. I would vote to remove all names from every building, and then just give the buildings numbers.

Who gets to decide who has a "good" past and who has a "bad" past. Take Robins for example. He is a great contributor to the school and likely is the reason it exists today. But he was also connected to the Dalcon Shield, which I believe killed 10-20 women and made countless infertile, all the while making a lot of money for his company - yet, his name stands on campus?

You either go all in on this and take a stand - don't remove any names. Or you remove all names. Just my opinion.
 
That was precisely the charge of the renaming commission…they got to decide on the criteria and give their recommendation to the trustees, who then have final decisions over the cases.
 
They didn’t even sell off the naming rights to the buildings. Come on folks. There is $$$ to be made (or maybe rather there is money that could be made to reduce the costs to students).
 
Without the individuals whose names are being removed from our school history, there would not now be a school for the present day students to agitate to apply contemporary standards to the past...an intellectually shallow approach to history. Ridiculous waste of time and energy. Sometimes you got to tell your children to grow up. UR didn't have the nads to do that.
 
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Great new UR is so “woke” Will save lots of donation $$$ going forward. Just received the 50th reunion info, screw’em. Progressive liberal have your day, but not my $$$$.
 
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Never imagined my frat brother whose last name was Fountain would have a building on campus named after him. Find it of interest that those who reject the past based on their preconceived notions of what would be better don't consider all the possibilities of how a new name will be interpreted.
 
Jeter and Thomas have historical linkage to their new names, having been originally called Dormitory 1 and 2, but Freeman as Residence Hall 3 is lacking. Hoped those would be placeholder names, but it appears not.

Puryear becoming Fountain Hall is fine with me, though it’s a little awkward since it’s not the central building of the three around the fountain.

Sarah Brunet changing back to The Refectory is a nice historical restoration, though it’s no longer a refectory and most people probably have no idea what the word means anyway.

Ryland becoming Humanities Building is rather dry, but at least it’s reflective of the expanded purpose of the building post-renovation.

I had to go back & reread that doc after seeing your post & palm Tree’s. Can’t believe those dorm names r permanent. If so that is dumb & weak imo. I joked earlier in thread about naming after colors (which would be canceled after 5 seconds) but this isn’t too far off. I thought 1 of the conclusions of commission was coming up with ways to properly choose names too. Seems like a cop out if not a placeholder. Students r really going to identify those by a number? Not going to work well in practice. As DT said at least put those out to bid for donors or something.
 
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They can change the name but it will always be Jeter Hall to me. During my stay, I had no idea why it was named Jeter nor did I care.

bit OT but weren’t Jeter & Thomas dorms more for kids on scholarships or the really smart ones? Maybe that’s why I didn’t hang much in them haha. I might be wrong or just had mistaken impression but in my day those dorms always seemed to have less slots when it came to the dorm picking system after frosh or soph years. Mainly bc I thought allocated already for some students. Of course they were smaller dorms too if I recall so that may have had something to do w it.

The rest of us slummed it in wood Dennis or the granddaddy of them all Marsh!
 
Thomas was the jock dorm in my day. Most of the football team lived there, not sprinkled throughout the campus. Always seemed to have more incidences of broken windows than the other dorms. :)
 
bit OT but weren’t Jeter & Thomas dorms more for kids on scholarships or the really smart ones? Maybe that’s why I didn’t hang much in them haha. I might be wrong or just had mistaken impression but in my day those dorms always seemed to have less slots when it came to the dorm picking system after frosh or soph years. Mainly bc I thought allocated already for some students. Of course they were smaller dorms too if I recall so that may have had something to do w it.

The rest of us slummed it in wood Dennis or the granddaddy of them all Marsh!
*adjusts pocket protector*

That was indeed the case in the '90s.

Signed,
A 4-year resident of Thomas, er, Residence Hall 2, aka The Deuce
 
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Yes to your remarks. Yes there is much to learn in history but one must want to learn. Wokeism, if this is the correct term to apply invoking the term of white supremacy to deride any EuroAmerican advancement of society, is pretty much whacky. In high school I had an advanced biology teacher, we reverently referred to as “ Mother Earth”, because of her age, and love of nature, who would begin some classes with the question “have you thanked the green plants today?” Well it was the early 70s and we might have partaken, I mean thanked some green plants on our bicycle ride to school, so we would smilingly nod and sans wet, “yes!”. So I wokenly wonder do these wolkers, when they arise in the morning, and turn on the light switch, check their cellphones and laptops and microwave their eggoes, curse white supremacy for not having to light a fire to boil water?
 
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