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posted by on Monday February 13 2017, @06:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the excellent-choice dept.

A couple of months ago, SoylentNews covered the debate on whether to rename historical buildings, monuments, and other landmarks, specifically centered on the case of Calhoun College at Yale.

YaleNews now reports that a decision has been made to rename the college after Grace Hopper, a computer scientist who also served as a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy, and who was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year.

Yale President Peter Salovey announced today that the university would rename Calhoun College, one of 12 undergraduate residential colleges, to honor one of Yale's most distinguished graduates, Grace Murray Hopper '30 M.A., '34 Ph.D., by renaming the college for her.

Salovey made the decision with the university's board of trustees — the Yale Corporation — at its most recent meeting. "The decision to change a college's name is not one we take lightly, but John C. Calhoun's legacy as a white supremacist and a national leader who passionately promoted slavery as a 'positive good' fundamentally conflicts with Yale's mission and values," Salovey said. [...]

This decision overrides Salovey's announcement in April of last year that the name of Calhoun College would remain. "At that time, as now, I was committed to confronting, not erasing, our history. I was concerned about inviting a series of name changes that would obscure Yale's past," said Salovey. "These concerns remain paramount, but we have since established an enduring set of principles that address them. The principles establish a strong presumption against renaming buildings, ensure respect for our past, and enable thoughtful review of any future requests for change." [...]

In August, Salovey asked John Witt '94 B.A., '99 J.D., '00 Ph.D., the Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law and professor of history, to chair a Committee to Establish Principles on Renaming. [...] The Witt committee outlines four principles that should guide any consideration of renaming: (1) whether the namesake's principal legacy fundamentally conflicts with the university's mission; (2) whether that principal legacy was contested during the namesake's lifetime; (3) the reasons the university honored that person; and (4) whether the building so named plays a substantial role in forming community at Yale. In considering these principles, it became clear that Calhoun College presents an exceptionally strong case — perhaps uniquely strong — that allows it to overcome the powerful presumption against renaming articulated in the report, said the president.


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by isostatic on Monday February 13 2017, @07:15PM

    by isostatic (365) on Monday February 13 2017, @07:15PM (#466710) Journal

    She retired in 1966 aged 60, after a very successful career. She was then brought back out of retirement multiple times, eventually finally retiring from active military service aged 79, she then worked as a consultant for the next 6 years. She also popularised the light-nanosecond.

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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday February 13 2017, @07:43PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Monday February 13 2017, @07:43PM (#466721)

    I only consume high-SI heavily relativistic nanoseconds, you judgemental clot!

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 13 2017, @07:48PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 13 2017, @07:48PM (#466723)

    Well, it already was pretty popular--among those who needed to know about it. 8-)
    I would have said "made more folks aware of it".

    She had a presentation which included the distance that an electron can travel in a nanosecond. [blogspot.com]

    After showing what a nanosecond looks like, Admiral Hopper would bring out her packet of picoseconds.
    There's a recording of her appearance on Letterman. [youtube.com]

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 2) by rts008 on Monday February 13 2017, @10:44PM

      by rts008 (3001) on Monday February 13 2017, @10:44PM (#466766)

      Thanks for the entertaining youtube link. :-)

      I was aware of her, but had put no effort into 'exploring' her.

      She seemed to be quite the character, and someone I would have probably enjoyed hanging out with, though I expect I would be out-classed mentally.(pro-tip: that's called a 'learning experience/opportunity', not something to be dismayed about)

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday February 13 2017, @08:33PM

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Monday February 13 2017, @08:33PM (#466733) Journal

    Indeed. I guess I assumed more people would know who she was, so I didn't include further details in the summary. Here's a link [yale.edu] to the detailed Yale bio of her, which has some additional details beyond the Wikipedia article.