The project was initiated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) as early as the mid-1890s and was supported by Peabody College president James D. Porter, a Confederate veteran and former Tennessee governor, in 1902.[1]Edith D. Pope, the second editor of the Confederate Veteran and a leading member of the Nashville No. 1 chapter of the UDC, played a key role in its construction. In addition, Pope and other members of the UDC made sure the college would offer a course on Southern history.[1]
The construction of Confederate Memorial Hall was supported by a $50,000 donation from the UDC in 1933.[2][3] The total cost of construction was $140,000.[4] The building was completed in 1935.[5] It was used as a residential building by female descendants of Confederate veterans who were selected by the UDC to live free of charge while they studied education.[5][2]
Memorial Hall in 2006
The building became part of Vanderbilt University campus in 1979 when the university acquired Peabody College.[3] By 1988, students were holding protests on campus, arguing the building's name was offensive to black students.[5] As a result, the university added a memorial plaque near the building to contextualize the origin of the name.[5][3]
When Gordon Gee became Chancellor in 2002, he tried to change the name of the building.[2] However, the United Daughters of the Confederacy sued the university in the Davidson County Chancery Court.[2][6] The case went to the Tennessee Supreme Court, and Judge William C. Koch, Jr. sided with the UDC.[2] By 2005, Judge William B. Cain of the Tennessee Court of Appeals concluded that the word Confederate was not about slavery, but about the fallen soldiers of the Confederate States Army, who defended their land against Northern invaders.[3][7] When he suggested Vanderbilt University would have to repay the UDC for their $50,000 donation (adjusted to inflation), the university dropped the lawsuit.[3] However, the university used the name "Memorial Hall" in their publications.[3]
In November 2015, students asked Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos to change the name on the building, arguing that "Vanderbilt refuses to pay $1 million to the Daughters of the Confederacy to divorce this university from its 'racist' past but raised $10 million to renovate campus baseball facilities".[8]
On August 15, 2016, the university announced it would remove the word Confederate from the building after receiving an anonymous donation of $1.2 million to repay the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[9][10] The UDC "reluctantly" accepted the donation.[11] Meanwhile, the university hid the word Confederate with a "temporary covering".[11]
Alumnus Clay Travis, a Fox Sports journalist, criticized his alma mater's decision to remove the word Confederate, comparing them to "Middle Eastern terrorists".[12] In response, Jack Daniel's canceled a $3,000 promotion deal it had with Travis.[12]
^ abcdeBrophy, Alfred L. (Fall 2006). "Confederate Memory and Monuments: Of Judicial Opinions, Statutes and Buildings". Journal of International Affairs. 60 (1): 134–136. JSTOR24358016.
^ abcd"Ranking America's Leading Liberal Art Colleges on Their Success in Integrating African Americans". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (8): 86. Winter 2002. doi:10.2307/3134213. JSTOR3134213.
^Tamburin, Adam (August 15, 2016). "Vanderbilt to remove 'Confederate' from building name". The Tennessean. Retrieved August 15, 2016. Anonymous donors recently gave the university the $1.2 million needed for that purpose; the Vanderbilt Board of Trust authorized the move this summer.
^Koren, Marina (August 15, 2016). "The College Dorm and the Confederacy". The Atlantic. Retrieved August 15, 2016. Vanderbilt will return $1.2 million to the Tennessee chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the present value of the $50,000 the group donated to the school in 1933 for the construction of the dorm. [...] The $1.2 million payment will come from anonymous donors who gave specifically for the removal of the inscription, the school said.
