University of Oregon President Michael Schill recommendsdenaming Dunn Hall on campus because of Frederic Dunn’s racist legacy. The Board of Trustees will consider the proposal at its meeting next week.
Schill makes the recommendation after commissioning a report from three historians on classics professor Dunn and University founder Matthew Deady. Last year, the U of O Black Student Task Force called for the buildings that hold those men’s names to be changed. Dunn led the Ku Klux Klan in Lane County in the 1920s. In a Thursday memo, Schill says, “Dunn, as the head of an organization that supported racism and violence against African Americans, Catholics, and Jews, is not a man for whom a building should be named on the University of Oregon campus.”
Schill says he’s still undecided about renaming Deady Hall. Matthew Deady was pro-slavery early in his life but somewhat changed his views later. His name is on the oldest building on the U of O campus. President Schill says the input he’s received shows the community holds divided views on whether Deady Hall should be renamed.
The U of O Board of Trustees meets next Thursday and Friday on campus.
