On UNC’s campus, every building named after persons who perpetrated policies of white supremacy should be renamed.
Many buildings on UNC’s campus honor white supremacists who used positions of power to promote the subjugation of black people.
So far, one of those, the building formerly known as Saunders Hall, has been renamed. But the rest will remain for at least 16 years under the Board of Trustees freeze on renaming buildings.
The Board of Trustees should make a strong statement against the ideology of bigotry. They should reverse the 16-year ban and rename buildings that bear the names of public figures who used their influence to support white supremacy.
The University’s naming policy cautions against judging historical figures by modern standards, but this policy is too lenient with the horror of ideologies that classify entire groups of people as subhuman.
And using the “man of his time” defense also fails to acknowledge the facts of history. Gov. Charles Aycock, who has a residence hall named after him, stoked racial divides to achieve political power. This was even as others, such as the fusionist coalition of the time, were fighting for justice and equality.
These kinds of actions amount to much more than just standards of the time. Men like Aycock used their influence to create those sinful standards.
We make these distinctions because while all forms of racism are repugnant, it is important to single out the people who used their power to systematically subjugate people for years to come.
More examples of figures like Aycock abound on campus.
