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Duke University will once again call East Residence Hall by that original name, stripping it of the name of the former North Carolina governor who had outspoken white supremacist views, President Richard H. Brodhead said in a letter to students this week. Students at Duke had pushed in recent months to change the name of Aycock Hall, a freshman residence that had been named in 1914 for the former North Carolina governor Charles B. Aycock, who pushed for both expanded public education and for segregation.
Brodhead said the decision to change a building's name was not made lightly, given the "strongest possible presumption" of permanence when a building is named. But "while Governor Aycock made notable contributions to public education in North Carolina, his legacy is inextricably associated with the disenfranchisement of black voters, or what W. E. B. DuBois termed 'a civic death.'... [T]he values of inclusion and nondiscrimination are key parts of the university's mission. After careful consideration, we believe it is no longer appropriate to honor a figure who played so active a role in the history that countered those values. In keeping with our educational role, an explanation of the history of the building's name will be displayed in the lobby of the East Residence Hall.In keeping with our educational role, an explanation of the history of the building's name will be displayed in the lobby of the East Residence Hall."
