NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · VOL. CXXXVIII, NO. 127 · yaledailynews.com
CALHOUN, MURRAY & FRANKLIN Decisions reached on Calhoun, new colleges and “master”
Slavery proponent to remain namesake BY DAVID SHIMER AND DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY STAFF REPORTERS In 1931, the University named a residential college after John Caldwell Calhoun, one of the fiercest advocates of slavery in American history. Eighty-five years later, following heated campus protests and more than two decades of debate over the college’s namesake, the University reaffirmed its decision.
University President Peter Salovey announced the decision to retain the name of Calhoun College as part of a community-wide email Wednesday evening. The controversy over Calhoun — named for the senator, vice president and notorious slavery advocate who graduated from Yale College in 1804 — has spanned a generation. But the naming debate, like a number of similar discussions at colleges across the country, gained
new momentum this fall as racially charged protests shook campus. In his email, Salovey said the University will keep the name so that the community remembers “one of the most disturbing aspects” of its past, rejecting the demands of student activists who argue that the name honors a white supremacist. “Removing Calhoun’s name obscures the legacy of slavery rather than addressing it,” Salovey wrote
in the email. “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.” Indeed, John Wilkinson ’60 GRD ’63 — who served as University secSEE CALHOUN PAGE 8
Pauli Murray LAW ’65, Ben Franklin honored BY DAVID SHIMER AND VICTOR WANG STAFF REPORTERS With the names of the two new residential colleges, the Yale Corporation has chosen to honor two “exemplary American leaders,” one a woman of color and one a white male. Anna Pauline Murray LAW ’65, the first woman or person of color to be honored by the name of a college, was a co-founder of the National Organization for Women, a famous civil rights activist and the first African-American to graduate from Yale with a doctorate in juridical science. Murray, who was queer, also received an honorary degree from the Divinity School in 1979. Salovey called her a champion of racial and gender equity, adding that Murray represents “the best of Yale: a preeminent intellectual inspired to lead and prepared to serve her community and her country.” Benjamin Franklin, the other namesake, never graduated from Yale, although he did receive an honorary degree in 1753. The founder and a former president of the University of Pennsylvania, Franklin was a member of the “Committee of Five” that drafted the Declaration of Independence. As
DANIELA BRIGHENTI/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
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Who was this for? BY DAVID SHIMER STAFF REPORTER Renewed debate over Calhoun College and the title of master emerged at the beginning of the 2015–16 academic year, while students and alumni have been debating the names of the new residential colleges since their construction was announced in 2008. But on Wednesday, Salovey announced the outcome of each debate in one fell swoop, answering three separate, distinct questions in one University-wide email. The choice to intertwine these decisions begs the question: What, if anything, was the University’s broader strategy? The answer, it seems, was to attempt to appease all of Yale’s constituencies at once. But the result is a series of decisions in direct opposition to the desires of the majority of the student body and that some describe as the “bare minimum”: Calhoun remains; “master” goes; one college named after a white man suggested by its benefactor, the other in honor of a queer woman of color. Salovey presented the two decisions on Calhoun College and the title “master” as equally significant. In his campuswide email, he elaborated upon the “master” decision first and gave it roughly as much space as Calhoun received. But nearly all students interviewed said the importance of the Calhoun decision far outweighs that of “master.” “The administration is trying to put Calhoun and ‘master’ on the same level of importance, but ‘master’ is chump change. Changing ‘master’ was at the bottom of our priority list, and changing the name of Calhoun was near the top,” said Sebastian Medina-Tayac ’16, who worked with Next Yale and is a staff reporter for the News.
SEE NEW COLLEGES PAGE 8 In recent months, the two new colleges have begun to take shape.
SEE ANALYSIS PAGE 9
“Master” replaced with “head of college” BY MONICA WANG AND VICTOR WANG STAFF REPORTERS Yale named its last master on Wednesday. An hour after naming David Evans ’92 the new head of Berkeley college, University President Peter Salovey announced in a campuswide email that Yale will discard the title, replacing it with “head of college.” Salovey’s message also included two other key
naming decisions regarding the name of Calhoun College and the two new residential colleges. Pierson head of college Stephen Davis opened a conversation about the title last August when he asked Pierson students to stop referring to him as “master,” citing concerns about the term’s associations with slavery and oppression. In the subsequent months, the title has generated heated debate on campus, as
students, faculty and alumni have expressed emotions ranging from support to disdain for Davis’ request. Because the title was built into the University bylaws, the Yale Corporation held the final say. The body made the decision to change the title during its April meeting — months after Harvard and Princeton announced a similar change in the title in their residential systems. According to Salovey’s email,
heads of colleges may be addressed as professor, doctor, Mr., Ms. or whatever title they prefer. “I’m happy for the process [of change] to grow organically out of conversations,” said Timothy Dwight College Head Mary Lui. “One thing I try to emphasize is that regardless of what title I have, my job is still the same — to be a leader in the college SEE MASTER PAGE 9
MORE INSIDE For a look at historical coverage of these topics, see Page 4–5.