Panel: University of Minnesota should rename buildings named after discriminatory leaders

ST. PAUL — The names of four former University of Minnesota leaders should be scrubbed from Twin Cities campus buildings, according to a task force appointed by President Eric Kaler.

A 125-page report made public Wednesday, Feb. 20, says the four white men, who promoted racist and anti-Semitic policies at the university, were not simply a product of their times. Rather, they discriminated against students despite significant activism on and off campus and while other universities chose integration.

The 11-person task force, chaired by law and history professor Susanna Blumenthal and liberal arts dean John Coleman, argued that changing the building names will help the university come to terms with its past:

“Removing names in these instances helps reveal — not conceal — history,” the report reads.

“It recovers the complex history of four powerful individuals whose names will not be forgotten, and in the process reveals both the positive and negative aspects of their legacies. It also recovers the history and reveals the names of students, faculty, administrators and community members who sought to make the University a more equitable institution.”

Kaler intends to make his own recommendations on the building names at the Board of Regents meeting in March so that his successor, Joan Gabel, doesn’t have to deal with it.

The buildings and namesakes at issue are:

The student union in Minneapolis is named for Lotus Coffman, president from 1920-1938, who unofficially barred black students from the Pioneer Hall dormitory.

“Coffman took a stance in favor of policies that many at the time, including the governor and much of the legislature, recognized as unjust and out of step with the democratic and egalitarian values of the state,” the task force concluded.

The St. Paul administrative building is named for longtime agriculture dean Walter Coffey, who served as president from 1941-45. In a reversal of President Guy Stanton Ford’s policies, Coffey supported the creation of the International House, a blacks-only student residence, and worked to keep Pioneer Hall a whites-only dorm.

“President Coffey’s actions were out of step with the campus culture and the well over one thousand petitioners who demanded the University return to a nondiscriminatory housing policy, and he actively moved the University back to the exclusionary policies of the Coffman era,” the task force wrote.

The dormitory on the West Bank Minneapolis campus is named for William Middlebrook, a powerful administrator who served as comptroller and later vice president for business administration between 1929 and 1959. He established the dorm system and supported Coffman’s and Coffey’s segregated housing practices.

“He made the choice for segregation in the face of opposition from students and stakeholders in the state at large,” the task force wrote.

The Minneapolis classroom building and former student union is named for Edward Nicholson, dean of student affairs from 1917-41. He spied on students and faculty in service of the Republican Party, labeling numerous Jewish students as Communists.

“His use of the resources and powers of his office to advance personal political beliefs and bigotries also violated basic principles of democratic government and public stewardship,” the task force wrote.

The University of Minnesota’s troubling past came to light in September 2017 with the presentation of “A Campus Divided,” a library exhibit on 1930-42 from professor emerita Riv-Ellen Prell and Ph.D. candidate Sarah Atwood.

Kaler last month described that era as a time in which “there is much to not be proud of.”

Soon after the exhibit opened, Kaler asked a committee to “guide our thinking” about how the university might respond. A second task force was appointed to make specific recommendations.

In addition to the name changes, the task force said the university should permanently install “A Campus Divided” at the Minneapolis student union, as well as exhibits on the four men at each of their namesake buildings.

During its research and deliberations, the task force received about 275 written comments. Those who favored renaming the buildings slightly outnumbered those opposed. More undergraduates and alumni wanted to preserve the building names while faculty, staff and graduate students favored their removal.

Responding to concerns about cost, the task force said the name changes would not be “burdensome or an expensive process.” However, removing Coffman’s name from the face of the student union would cost roughly $60,000 to $100,000, they said.