Georgia’s public university system will not rename 75 buildings and colleges whose names an advisory committee recommended changing because they contained supporters of slavery and racial segregation.
Members of the Council of Regency of the Georgia Public University System, who voted unanimously on Monday, said in a statement that while the regents recognized “the importance of the issue and different views on it,” they had decided not to rename the buildings.
“The purpose of the story is to teach,” the board said in its statement. “History can teach us important lessons – lessons that, when understood and applied, will make Georgia and its people stronger.”
The board added: “In the future, the board will endeavor to identify measures that reflect the strength and energy of the diversity of Georgia.”
The decision of the state university system follows similar debates in institutions across the country over statues, monuments, and names engraved on buildings and structures, including those of Confederate leaders and colonial figures who advocated slavery, such as Christopher Columbus.
The debate deepened last year following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer and the ensuing national protests against racial justice. Some protesters overturned statues and monuments. At universities, managing authorities responded by setting up task forces and advisory groups to look into complaints.
Some of these assessments were completed this year. At the University of Alabama, a board of directors said two buildings would be given new names, and a University of South Carolina advisory group recommended renaming 10 buildings.
In June, the Washington and Lee University Board of Trustees decided not to change his name after months of scrutiny to remove the reference to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. And this month, the board of directors of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law decided to remove the name of its founder, Serranus Hastings, who led a slaughter of Yuki men, women and children in California during the gold rush era.
Dr. Hilary N. Green, professor of history at the University of Alabama, said in an interview Tuesday that universities and colleges in Georgia are now “no longer keeping up with the nation” because the board of directors rejected the results of a committee that had ” produced a very thorough report and identified the most problematic and extremely racist figures “.
“I feel sorry for the students who have to go into these buildings because it was a systemic rejection by the board,” said Dr. Green.
The board members could not be reached for comment or did not respond to interview requests.
The advisory board convened in June 2020, which consisted of several scientists, examined the names of 838 buildings and 40 universities. In their findings, published in a 181-page report, they explained why they recommended changing 75 names, saying they did not reflect the “published standards” of the university system.
One of the names was Henry W. Grady, an Atlanta journalist who became the editor of the local newspaper and whose name is anchored in the Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
Under his leadership in the late 19th century, the report said the newspaper consistently published racist stories. He instigated lynching, disenfranchised black voters and used the newspaper’s pages to promote white supremacy, said Dr. Kathy Roberts Forde, professor of history of journalism at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
In June 2020, a group was formed dedicated to replacing Grady’s name at school. The group called Rename Grady campaigned to replace him with Charlayne Hunter-Gault, a journalist who incorporated the university in 1961.
“I can say that as a Black woman it sends a message that we are not welcome in this college, and we are not welcome in universities that continue to highlight and honor enslavers and white racists and segregationists,” said Kimberly Davis, an alumna of the University of Georgia and organizer of Rename Grady said in an interview Tuesday.
Henry W. Grady III – whose great-great-grandfather is Henry W. Grady, the editor – said in an interview on Tuesday that following the board’s decision, he was “glad to see a solution.”
He declined to comment on the debate over renaming the University of Georgia school by his family name. But he said it was “disappointing” when other institutions renamed themselves from Henry W. Grady to something else.
On Tuesday he said he “trusted the procedure” proposed by the board.
“I’m glad it was decided,” said Mr. Grady. “I’m glad the process is over.”
Mr Grady said he would not label his great-great-grandfather a racist man, adding that it was not fair to be judged by today’s standards. “It’s a different time,” he said.
Of the buildings the committee recommended renaming, 31 were in the University of Georgia. The university referred questions about the renaming to the board, and a board spokesman did not respond to questions asking for comment.
The committee also recommended changing the names of John Brown Gordon, a Confederate leader, and DeNean Stafford Jr., a local businessman who “worked to deny the humanity of African Americans,” the committee wrote. The board voted against the renaming of Gordon State College in Barnesville and the Stafford School of Business at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.
Dr. Robert A. Pratt, professor of civil rights history at the University of Georgia, said in an interview Tuesday that he was not surprised by the panel’s vote.
“I think the only thing that surprised me was that there was even an advisory board because I really never expected that there would be a change in content,” he said.
