Gary Nelson "Gary's World" Published Jan. 7, 2005

So many memorial names will have to be changed

There are a lot of buildings with names that need to be changed in the United States.

Should Vanderbilt drop the word "Confederate" in the name of one of the buildings on its prestigious campus in Nashville? Well, actually the name was removed from the building in September of 2002. Since the removal of the name a court battle has erupted between the Daughters of the United Confederacy and Vanderbilt.

First, a little background on the subject.

In 2002 Vanderbilt announced it would drop the word ''Confederate'' from the Confederate Memorial Hall and simply call it Memorial Hall. Vanderbilt officials said the building's name was changed in an effort to make the school more welcoming to people of all races and ethnic backgrounds.

So what's the big deal you ask? Why not just let them change the building's name?

In 1935 the building was built with a $50,000 donation from the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Without the help from UDC the building wouldn't have been built. At the time the building was part of George Peabody College for Teachers and Confederate Memorial Hall was a $150,000 dormitory. In 1979 the financially suffering college merged with Vandergilt University.

In changing the name of the building, the university did not let UDC organization leaders know of the decision before making it public.

According to a story in The Tennessean, the UDC filed a lawsuit against Vanderbilt after the decision citing breach of contract and in September 2003 Davidson County Chancellor Irvin Kilcrease Jr., who is now retired, dismissed the UDC's lawsuit.

His ruling was that Vanderbilt must be allowed to change the building's name so it can recruit African-American and other minority students and professors. He further stated in his judgment that Peabody-UDC contracts were signed at a different time in American history, when racial segregation was legal.

The UDC appealed the decision and yesterday the Court of Appeals in Nashville heard arguments by both sides. A ruling was not issued yet.

The decision to remove the name seems a little ridiculous to me. I am originally a yankee. I moved here, to the South, in the late 1980s. It just seems that removing the name is insulting not only to the UDC, but to the intelligence of Americans. I don't see how the memorial building's name could offend anyone who is semi-intelligent. If that's the case there are many other name changes to be made in buildings and memorials across the country.

If you follow this train of thought then:

·Sons of Confederate Veterans specialty license plates that were issued since last January should be discontinued. They might be offensive to other drivers and cause accidents or make less people drive;

·The Confederate Memorial Monument in Arlington National Cemetery needs to be changed. It could be offensive to others visiting their Northern ancestors.

·The Confederate section in Arlington also needs to be changed to just South.

·Hey, what about the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The word Holocaust is quite offensive, too. I guess it should be renamed WWII Museum.

·What about the Confederate Highway, Confederate Railroad. There's even a Confederate Rd. in Crossville. I guess the county commission better get ready to change that one.

This list could continue for pages.

My point is simple, you can't sugar coat U.S. history and American heritage. Whether the heritage is Southern or Northern it is that - heritage, history. Whether it's offensive or not, you can't change it.

The UDC isn't an organization out promoting hatred and racism. It is an organization that honors the memory of those Confederate ancestors who passed. If we allow this to be changed or politically corrected, then where will the line be drawn?

···
Gary Nelson is a Chronicle staffwriter. His column appears periodically in the Crossville Chronicle. He can be reached by e-mail at gnelson@crossville-chronicle.com.