What’s In a Name?
A few weeks ago, a post on dormitories vs. residence halls generated lots of interest. A story I found online made me think of a different sort of naming issue: When the name of a campus building–a residence hall, for example–belongs to someone whose viewpoints are less than savory. The University of Texas is one institution that’s facing this problem, but I’m sure they aren’t the only one. Simkins residence hall is named after William Stewart Simkins, a former University of Texas professor but also an enthusiastic Ku Klux Klan organizer and promoter. Some people on the campus feel the name should be changed. Others feel that while Simkins’ views on race were repellent, he is part of the university’s history and views such as his are part of the country’s history. Also, most students don’t know who William Stewart Simkins was; all they know is Simkins the residence hall. Have you faced this dilemma on your campus? How was it resolved?
PS: Simkins being mostly forgotten aside from the residence hall with his name made me think of this piece, by Percy Bysshe Shelley. (My inclusion of it here is not meant to malign the condition of Simkins residence hall or any other structures on the University of Texas campus!)
Ozymandias
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
