UNC eyes new names for 3 buildings tied to white supremacy

The UNC board voted last summer to remove the names of Charles B. Aycock, Julian S. Carr and Josephus Daniels from the buildings

Associated Press

Apr 11, 2021

The University of North Carolina is eying new names for three buildings on its flagship Chapel Hill campus named for people with white supremacist and racist ties.

The News & Observer reports that an advisory committee met Thursday to discuss potential names. The committee will select a list of names for the university’s chancellor to consider recommending to the board of trustees.

Students walk through the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on August 18, 2020 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)

In March, Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz asked the community to submit ideas for renaming Aycock Residence Hall, the Daniels Building and the Carr Building. Friday was the deadline for online submissions.

The board voted last summer to remove the names of Charles B. Aycock, Julian S. Carr and Josephus Daniels from the buildings. A university commission asked for the name changes, saying the three men “occupied high positions of influence and public trust” and used their power to oppress Black people.

Guskiewicz has said he expects the buildings to be renamed before the fall semester.

The list of new names under consideration includes Johnston Blakely, a Naval officer during the War of 1812 who and became the first Chapel Hill graduate to die in military service to the U.S.; W. Horace Carter, a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper publisher who reported on the Ku Klux Klan; and civil rights attorney Julius Chambers, a North Carolina native.

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