BLOUNTVILLE,
Tenn. — The Tennessee Board of Regents has endorsed MTSU
President Sidney A. McPhee’s request to rename Forrest Hall.
In a voice vote Friday, June 24, during their
quarterly meeting at Northeast State Community College in Blountville, regents
endorsed MTSU’s proposal to change the name of the facility named for
Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest to the Army ROTC Building.
The TBR decision allows MTSU to petition
the Tennessee Historical Commission to change the name of the building, which houses
the university’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program and was dedicated
with the Forrest moniker in 1958. The Historical Commission must approve the
removal of the name by a two-thirds vote.
The process began last summer when McPhee
appointed a task force to review the building’s name following a mass shooting
at a historically black South Carolina church that prompted a national
discussion about Confederate iconography on public property.
The 17-member task force held three public forums
and two open deliberations before making its recommendation in April to rename
the building.
While noting that the task force recommendation
was not unanimous and included “strong dissent” from a few members, McPhee also
pointed out in his remarks to the TBR that under the board’s current criteria,
Forrest would not be eligible to have his name placed on any university
building.
McPhee noted that in considering the task
force’s recommendation, he asked himself would the university of the 21st
century make the same decision on naming the building as was made in 1958.
“In 2016, we are a different institution
compared to the 1950s,” he said. “In 2016, we are Middle Tennessee State
University, a very diverse institution, with approximately 23,000 students and
over 115,000 alumni, representing every state in the Union and countries around
the world.
“We are a truly global citizen and our actions
should reflect the global community that we now serve.”
For more information about the Forrest Hall
issue, visit www.mtsu.edu/forresthall.
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