University of Minnesota leaders are mulling a new approach to renaming campus buildings two years after a bruising debate on the topic roiled the Twin Cities campus.
At their annual retreat Thursday, President Joan Gabel and members of the university's Board of Regents were in agreement that buildings named after prominent figures should come up for renaming after several decades so new leaders can be honored. That concept will be incorporated into a new policy that will also address whether to rename buildings whose namesakes committed wrongful behavior.
"We only have so many buildings," Gabel said, noting that honorary names can last for a building's life span under current policy. "If we want our campus to continue to honor achievement, we don't have the place for that given the way the policy is currently phrased."
Gabel has been working on a new policy since shortly after she took office. Students, a faculty task force and Gabel's predecessor, former President Eric Kaler, pushed to rename four buildings in 2019 after a campus exhibit and report charged that their namesakes — all now-deceased university administrators during the 1930s and '40s — supported residence hall segregation.
Regents rejected stripping their names from the buildings, citing their historical contributions, a discomfort with applying modern standards to the first half of the previous century, and concerns about the quality of a report the task force produced.
It remains unclear how the new policy, which is still being developed, would handle such episodes. Gabel and regents focused Thursday on a long-term strategy for naming buildings. But some factors that will likely be considered when deciding whether to revoke a building name amid revelations of wrongdoing include historical preservation, the harm caused by an individual and whether there is clear evidence of their actions.
Gabel initially suggested letting building names stand for 100 years, barring no wrongdoing, before they are reviewed for renaming. But most regents felt that is too long and instead supported renaming buildings after 50 to 70 years.
"I would feel better if it was 50 years or 70 years … to create opportunity to honor others on a more frequent basis and whole classes of people that have never been able to be honored," Regent Janie Mayeron said. "Our buildings are named basically after men. White men."
