Yes, another one. By now, the rest of America must think Ivy League students are overly sensitive children--not young adults, but children—who refuse to confront viewpoints contrary to their own. I can hear the critiques now: "College students nowadays are too sensitive; they're too politically correct; they're too afraid of having their feelings hurt.
Back in my day, we didn't let such unimportant things hurt us." (Yes, and you also walked uphill to school both ways.) For me, it's not about not being offended: it's about making sure other people aren't offended or marginalized. (There's a certain amount of privilege involved in being able to choose these type of issues to confront; that's for another article.)
I can't speak on why anyone else would want to change the names of university buildings without misrepresenting someone else's opinions. To me, however, naming a building after someone or hanging their portrait on the walls of those buildings is honoring that person. Yes, doing so also serves the function of reminding us of our history--inasmuch as I can share in an institution's history during a time when I would not have been allowed to be a part of it. So I always find it interesting when I am warned against erasing Harvard's history.
This, however, is not about Harvard and its history. This is about Yale, and who it chooses to commemorate--namely, John C. Calhoun, former U.S. Senator and Vice President. He was a champion of slavery, states' rights, and nullification. Emphasis on the word "champion": rather than describe slavery as a necessary evil, as other slave owners of his time might have done (he owned dozens of slaves), he defended it as a positive good.
He argued states had the right to nullify federal law and even secede from the Union if they felt the federal government was encroaching upon their rights and liberties, which, in more than one sense, makes him the father of the Civil War.
He is the closest thing antebellum American history has to a primary antagonist. And in 1933, Yale decided to honor him by naming one of its residential colleges for him.
John C. Calhoun is connected to Yale's history only because he attended college there. He was never a professor or an administrator; nor was he ever a benefactor. Any memorial erected for him at Yale is there for the sole reason of honoring him. There is no danger of erasing his history at Yale, because he has no more history there than the average graduate; nor is there any danger of erasing his "contribution" to American history.
\We learn about him in our high school U.S. History classes: provided you paid attention in yours--and I would hope, if you ever were, are, or ever will be a student or faculty member at Yale, that you did--you do not need Calhoun College to bear John C. Calhoun's name to remember him. (The links are for those who paid attention in their history class, but have forgotten.)
This is not the same as removing the Royal family crest from the seal of Harvard Law School. This is, plain and simple, about who and what we choose to honor. If you want to keep Calhoun's name on Yale's buildings and walls, I have to ask you what it is you want to celebrate.
