Carolina Hall (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

Carolina Hall, formerly known as Saunders Hall, is a building on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the United States. Carolina Hall was built in 1922 and named for William L. Saunders, an alumnus and a colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The name was changed to "Carolina Hall" in 2015.

Carolina Hall
The building's exterior in 2015
Location within North Carolina
General information
Architectural styleItalianate
LocationUniversity of North Carolina campus, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Coordinates35°54′40.3″N 79°2′59.7″W
Completed1922
Governing bodyState

Foundation and Renaming

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill named the building after William L. Saunders in 1922, thirty years after his death. The university named the building Saunders Hall in order to commemorate William L. Saunders' service as a confederate colonel, state secretary of state, and as "Head of the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina."[1] Saunders Hall was built in the main quad of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus and remained there for 93 years.[2] In 2014, university students asked trustees to rename the building due to Saunders' role as a Ku Klux Klan leader.[3] Many asked to change the name to "Hurston Hall" to honor Zora Neale Hurston.[4] The Board of Trustees passed a resolution to rename the building, with 10 of the 13 trustees voting for the resolution.[5] In May 2015, the university announced that the building would be renamed "Carolina Hall",[4] and it was officially renamed on August 13, 2015.[6] The Board of Trustees also formulated a plan to forbid any name changes to other buildings on campus for sixteen years.[7]

Protests
Saunders Hall in 2014, before the renaming

University students protested the name "Saunders Hall" starting in 2001, when the Black Student Movement began protesting the building's name.[8] The Real Silent Sam Coalition, an advocacy group dedicated to raising awareness about the racialized history of spaces on campus, launched a movement in 2015 to rename Saunders Hall, place a plaque on Silent Sam that contextualizes its history, and implement a historical tour of the racialized space on campus for first-year students.[8] The 10-3 vote to make the changes reflected a divisions among trustees about how to address the university's racial history.[9] Other buildings on campus named after people associated with white supremacy include the Julian Shakespeare Carr Building, Josephus Daniels Student Stores, John Washington Graham Residence Hall, J.G. de Roulhac Hamilton Hall, Cameron Morrison Residence Hall, John J. Parker Residence Hall, Thomas Ruffin Residence Hall and Cornelia Phillips Spencer Hall.

See also

References
  1. "Saunders Hall to be Renamed Carolina Hall". Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  2. Cooper, Michael. "UNC's Hall of Shame". New Republic. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  3. Kingkade, Tyler (April 28, 2014). "UNC-Chapel Hill Students Want School To Rename Building Honoring KKK Leader". The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
  4. Svriuga, Susan (28 May 2015). "UNC takes on its past, renaming hall that has long honored a KKK leader". Washington Post. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  5. Lamm, Stephanie. "Saunders Hall renamed Carolina Hall". The Daily Tarheel. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  6. Wright, Emma (13 August 2015). "Carolina Hall replaces the name of UNC's Saunders Hall". Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  7. Svokos, Alexandra (28 May 2015). "UNC-Chapel Hill Decides It Shouldn't Have A Building Named For A KKK Leader". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  8. Jones, Jaleesa (30 January 2015). "UNC protests to #KickOutTheKKK and rename building honoring former Klansman". Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  9. "Trustees Rename Saunders Hall, Freeze Renamings for 16 Years". Carolina Alumni Review. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
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