The University of Oregon Board of Trustees voted unanimously Thursday to remove the name of a leader of the Ku Klux Klan from a campus building. Dunn Hall will be called Cedar Hall for now.
U of O President Michael Schill recommended denaming Dunn Hall. He credited the Black Student Task Force for bringing the issue to his attention last year. Schill made his decision based on research the UO commissioned from three historians which detailed Frederic Dunn’s role in the KKK in the early 20th century.
Schill: “Dunn was the Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan, as all of us understand, was one of the most notorious organizations in American history and had a very ugly role in American history.”
Schill says this is a symbolic act and there’s more to be done to address concerns brought forward by the black student task force. Schill wants more time to consider whether to dename Deady Hall. Matthew Deady was a pro-slavery founder of the University and helped write the state’s constitution which originally outlawed blacks.
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