Confederate Memorial Hall, Vanderbilt University

This article is about the dormitory hall at Vanderbilt University. For the museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, see Confederate Memorial Hall.
Memorial Hall

Memorial Hall in 2007
Location 2205 West End Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Built 1935
Architect Henry C. Hibbs
NRHP Reference # 11000418[1]
Added to NRHP July 6, 2011[1]

Confederate Memorial Hall, now known as Memorial Hall, is a historic building on the Peabody College campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Built in 1935 as a dormitory hall for female descendants of veterans of the Confederate States Army, its name has resulted in multiple lawsuits and student unrest. In August 2016, the university announced it would remove the word "Confederate" from the building and reimburse the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

History

The building was completed in 1935.[2] It was designed by architect Henry C. Hibbs.[1] Its construction was supported by a US$50,000 donation from the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1933.[3][4] It was used as a residential building, where female students who descended from Confederate veterans and intended to study for a teaching career were selected by the UDC to live free of charge.[2][3]

Confederate Memorial Hall in 2006.

The building was acquired by Vanderbilt University when it acquired Peabody College in 1979.[4] By 1988, students held protests on campus, suggesting the name was offensive to black students.[2] As a result, the university added a memorial plaque near the building to contextualize the origin of the name.[2][4]

When Gordon Gee became Chancellor in 2002, he tried to change the name of the building.[3] However, the United Daughters of the Confederacy sued the university in the Davidson County Chancery Court.[3][5] The case went to the Tennessee Supreme Court, and Judge William C. Koch, Jr. sided with the UDC.[3] By 2005, Judge William B. Cain of the Tennessee Court of Appeals concluded that the word Confederate was not about slavery, but about the fallen soldiers of the Confederate States Army, who defended their land against Northern invaders.[4][6] When he suggested Vanderbilt University would have to repay the US$50,000 donation adjusted to inflation, the university dropped the lawsuit.[4] However, the university used the name "Memorial Hall" in their publications.[4]

In November 2015, students asked Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos to change the name on the building, arguing "Vanderbilt refuses to pay $1 million to the Daughters of the Confederacy to divorce this university from its 'racist' past but raised $10 million to renovate campus baseball facilities".[7]

On August 15, 2016, the university announced it would remove the word Confederate from the building after anonymous donors donated US$1.2 million to repay the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[8][9] The UDC accepted the donation "reluctantly".[10] Meanwhile, the university hid the word Confederate with a "temporary covering".[10]

Alumnus Clay Travis, a Fox Sports journalist, criticized his alma mater's decision to remove the word Confederate.[11] In retaliation, Travis lost a US$3,000 promotion deal he had with Jack Daniel's.[11]

Architectural significance

The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since July 6, 2011.[1]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Confederate Memorial Hall, Vanderbilt University.
  1. 1 2 3 4 "Alumni Memorial Hall, Vanderbilt University". National Park Service. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Ranking America's Leading Liberal Art Colleges on Their Success in Integrating African Americans". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (8): 86. Winter 2002. JSTOR 3134213. (registration required (help)).
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Brophy, Alfred L. (Fall 2006). "CONFEDERATE MEMORY AND MONUMENTS: OF JUDICIAL OPINIONS, STATUTES AND BUILDINGS". Journal of International Affairs. 60 (1): 134–136. JSTOR 24358016. (registration required (help)).
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jaschik, Scott (May 5, 2005). "Confederates Defeat Vanderbilt: Appeals court says university must pay -- if it wants to change controversial name of a dormitory.". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Vanderbilt Sued Over Hall's Name Change". The Washington Post. October 18, 2002. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  6. ↑ Brophy, Alfred L. (2006). Reparations : Pro and Con. New York City: Oxford University Press. p. 15. ISBN 019530408X. OCLC 62755581.
  7. ↑ Woods, Jeff (November 17, 2015). "Vandy's Black Students Put Zeppos On the Spot". Nashville Scene. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  8. ↑ Tamburin, Adam (August 15, 2016). "Vanderbilt to remove 'Confederate' from building name". The Tennessean. Retrieved August 15, 2016. Anonymous donors recently gave the university the $1.2 million needed for that purpose; the Vanderbilt Board of Trust authorized the move this summer.
  9. ↑ Koren, Marina (August 15, 2016). "The College Dorm and the Confederacy". The Atlantic. Retrieved August 15, 2016. Vanderbilt will return $1.2 million to the Tennessee chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the present value of the $50,000 the group donated to the school in 1933 for the construction of the dorm. [...] The $1.2 million payment will come from anonymous donors who gave specifically for the removal of the inscription, the school said.
  10. 1 2 Tamburin, Adam (August 16, 2016). "Daughters of the Confederacy reluctantly accepts Vanderbilt deal". The Tennessean. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
  11. 1 2 Tamburin, Adam (August 17, 2016). "Jack Daniel's nixes Clay Travis deal over 'Confederate' controversy". The Tennessean. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
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