Vice-Chancellor announces an ad hoc committee to consider the names and stories behind University buildings and monuments.

 

 

September 23, 2021

Dear Members of the Sewanee Community,

We are pleased to announce the formation of the Names and Places Committee, an ad hoc committee authorized by the University’s Board of Regents. The committee's work follows the path that the Board of Regents and the University laid out in September 2020 of evaluating our past while affirming who we are and who we aspire to be. The purpose of the committee will be to consider the names and stories behind buildings, monuments, and places on the Domain to identify naming principles and practices and to ensure that, in every instance, there is an appropriate balance between the contribution of the namesakes and the values of our University.

Read a message from the committee co-chairs, the Rev. Dr. Gene Manning and Professor Deon Miles, and see the members of the committee.

The committee will work over the course of the academic year with a goal of providing a naming framework and recommendations to the Board of Regents next summer. Throughout the course of the year, the committee will be learning more about the University’s history and will be gathering input from various University constituencies to inform its work.

We offer our thanks to the members of the Names and Places Committee and our gratitude for those supporting its work in the months ahead. 

Best wishes from the Mountain,

Reuben E. Brigety

Vice-Chancellor and President

 

 

Reid Funston

Chair, Board of Regents