This is a point I have been making for months.

Red Alert Politics reports.

Will Yale rename its entire university? Elihu Yale was worse than John C. Calhoun

If Yale University President Peter Salovey thinks Calhoun College is a bad name, he may want to think about renaming the entire school. As Roger Kimball for The Wall Street Journal points out, Elihu Yale, for whom the school is named after, was much worse with his racism, and was deeply involved in the slave trade in India.

In April, Salovey announced that Yale would keep the name Calhoun College. He explained that the decision was intended to “to encourage the campus community to confront the history of slavery, and to teach that history and its legacy.” Included in the announcement was information about an “interactive history project” to examine the legacy, and a request for proposed works on Calhoun’s life. There will also be two new residential colleges named after civil rights activist Anna Pauline Murray and Benjamin Franklin.

However, the good news didn’t last. Protests over the decision arose, and Salovey announced earlier this month he would be creating a Committee to Establish Principles on Renaming.

“There has been a craze for renaming things on college campuses the last couple of years—a common passion in unsettled times,” Kimball said.

If Yale is so set on changing its racist legacy, then it shouldn’t just focus on “amateur” Calhoun. “Far more egregious was Elihu Yale, the philanthropist whose benefactions helped found the university,” Kimball said. “As an administrator in India, he was deeply involved in the slave trade. He always made sure that ships leaving his jurisdiction for Europe carried at least 10 slaves. I propose that the committee on renaming table the issue of Calhoun College and concentrate on the far more flagrant name ‘Yale.’”


 
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