Confederate Memorial Hall, Vanderbilt University

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This article is about the dormitory hall at Vanderbilt University. For the museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, see Confederate Memorial Hall.
Confederate Memorial Hall
VanderbiltMemorialHall.jpg
Confederate Memorial Hall in 2007
Location 2205 West End Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Built 1935
Architect Henry C. Hibbs
NRHP Reference # 11000418[1]
Added to NRHP July 6, 2011[1]

Confederate Memorial Hall, later known as Alumni Memorial Hall despite bearing the old name on its facade, is a historic building on the Peabody College campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Built in 1935 as a dormitory hall for female descendants of veterans of the Confederate States Army, its name has resulted in multiple lawsuits and student unrest.

History

The building was completed in 1935.[2] It was designed by architect Henry C. Hibbs.[1] Its construction was supported by a US$50,000 donation from the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1933.[3][4] It was used as a residential building, where female students who descended from Confederate veterans and intended to study for a teaching career were selected by the UDC to live free of charge.[2][3]

Confederate Memorial Hall in 2006.

The building was acquired by Vanderbilt University when it acquired Peabody College in 1979.[4] By 1988, students held protests on campus, suggesting the name was offensive to black students.[2] As a result, the university added a memorial plaque near the building to contextualize the origin of the name.[2][4]

When Gordon Gee became Chancellor in 2002, he tried to change the name of the building.[3] However, the United Daughters of the Confederacy sued the university in the Davidson County Chancery Court.[3][5] The case went to the Tennessee Supreme Court, and Judge William C. Koch, Jr. sided with the UDC.[3] By 2005, Judge William B. Cain of the Tennessee Court of Appeals concluded that the word "Confederate" was not about slavery, but about the fallen soldiers of the Confederate States Army, who defended their land against Northern invaders.[4][6] When he suggested Vanderbilt University would have to repay the US$50,000 donation adjusted to inflation, the university dropped the lawsuit.[4] However, the university uses the name "Alumni Memorial Hall" or "Alumni Hall" in their publications.[4]

In November 2015, students asked Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos to change the name on the building, arguing "Vanderbilt refuses to pay $1 million to the Daughters of the Confederacy to divorce this university from its "racist" past but raised $10 million to renovate campus baseball facilities".[7]

Architectural significance

The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since July 6, 2011.[1]

References

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