Eastern Illinois U. May Rename 'Lincoln Hall'

Eastern Illinois U. May Rename ‘Lincoln Hall’

Here’s the slippery slope.

Posted by Mike LaChance Tuesday, October 17, 2017 at 07:30am 1 Comment

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The reason given for this is that the counterpart building is named for Douglas, who supported slavery. The suggested change seems pointless as well.

The College Fix reports:

Eastern Illinois University’s ‘Lincoln Hall’ eyed for name change

The “Lincoln Hall” dorm at Eastern Illinois University may be renamed because its counterpart at the school — “Douglas Hall” — has come under fire.

The university’s faculty senate recently passed a resolution calling on campus leaders to consider renaming the two dorms because Stephen Douglas, a Democrat, famously advocated for slavery against Republican Abraham Lincoln in a series of debates.

The resolution, approved Oct. 3 with only one dissenting vote, argues “Douglas Hall” could be misinterpreted as the university honoring Douglas and the principles for which he stood.

With that, the resolution calls on the University Naming Committee to consider a revision to the names of Douglas Hall and Lincoln Hall “to more specifically commemorate the 1858 debates for which the buildings were originally named in 1951.”

The resolution suggests “Lincoln/Douglas Debate Hall East” and “Lincoln/Douglas Debate Hall West” as ideas, according to the resolution, a copy of which was obtained by The College Fix. Another idea is to just rename Douglas Hall to “Lincoln/Douglas Debate Hall.”

The Charleston, Illinois-based institution was home to one of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates. The school’s website notes more than 12,000 people flocked to the city to listen to it, the fourth of seven debates held throughout the state.

Of the senators present for the vote, all voted yes except one, Medieval Philosophy Professor Grant Sterling.

“Almost no one on campus actually sees the name as promoting Douglas’ views, so they’re advocating a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” Sterling told The College Fix. “The movement to rename the hall signifies overzealous political correctness.”