UA Trustees Could Vote This Week On Building Name Change

Tuscaloosa AL

09 February, 2022

4:30 PM

Description

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A University of Alabama System Board of Trustees meeting is expected no later than Friday, Feb. 11 to receive its latest recommendation regarding the renaming of Bibb Graves Hall to Lucy-Graves Hall, which honors the legacy of Autherine Lucy Foster. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter and breaking news alerts. Lucy was the first African-American student to attend The University of Alabama and, on Feb. 3, saw her name receive Board approval to join that of the former Alabama governor and member of the Ku Klux Klan on the building. However, amid backlash from the campus community and beyond, the UA System seems poised to reconsider the decision. On Tuesday, UA System Board of Trustees President Pro Tempore W. Stancil Starnes convened the UA System Working Group on Named Structures and Spaces to discuss the name of Lucy-Graves Hall following the outcry The entire controversy at present can be traced back to June 2020, when the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees convened a diverse working group to conduct an in-depth review of named buildings, structures and spaces on UA System campuses. In a press release on Wednesday, the UA System says the Working Group acknowledges the complexity of this amended name, as detailed in the initial Board Resolution and the group's Final Report. The Working Group was chaired by retired Judge John England, Jr. along with Birmingham athletic coach Barbara Humphrey, Rockford attorney Vanessa Leonard, Mobile business executice Harris Morrissette, Tuscaloosa attorney Scott Phelps and Starnes. Additionally, the UA System says the Working Group submitted this naming recommendation after serious consideration and much deliberation, which included seeking advice from more than a dozen scholars specializing in Alabama history and consulting with other stakeholders. In 2020, the UA System Board also vote to rename the following buildings: Nott Hall to Honors Hall.Morgan Hall to English Building.Manly Hall to Presidents Hall. "The Board's priority is to honor Dr. Autherine Lucy Foster, who, as the first African American student to attend The University of Alabama, opened the door for students of all races to achieve their dreams at the University," said UA Director of System Communications Lynn Cole said in the release. "Unfortunately, the complex legacy of Governor Graves has distracted from that important priority." In the final report, the Working Group mentions that Bibb Graves was the most difficult and time-consuming of all those reviewed, saying he is regarded by many historians as one of, if not the, most progressive and effective governors in the history of the state. However, his ties to the Ku Klux Klan were the primary cause for opposition, as the decision would see UA's first Black student share the building's name with a former grand cyclops of a Montgomery klavern. "There is a reasonable argument that Gov. Graves did more to directly benefit black Alabamians than any other governor in the state's history," the final report said. "In addition to the general programs that helped both white and black Alabamians, he pushed to end the convict lease system, which had become a vicious engine of both labor exploitation and racial repression." The complexities of Graves' life, the UA System said, left the Working Group with a basic question of his Klan connections outweighing a career of major achievements and service. This is the question that appears to have been initially answered by the group's favorable recommdenation to the Board of Trustees, but one that will now once again be reconsidered due to the public's reception of the decision. "Working Group members also wish to note that changing the names of a few buildings is not a denial or a concealment of history," the final report says. "The stories of the people from the past whose names are being removed will continue to be documented in records and books. And, in most instances, their stories will be told more fully than they were previously inside the buildings on which their names appeared." Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at [email protected]