USC’s Caslen wants to rename dorm named after man who experimented on slaves

University of South Carolina President Robert Caslen wants to rename a building on campus named for a man who performed medical experiments on slaves, he said in a message to students, faculty and staff.

Earlier Monday, the school’s board of trustees had added the discussion of renaming buildings to its meeting agenda for Friday, June 19, board chair John Von Lehe said.

Caslen said in his message he is formally asking the board of trustees to rename the building at the Friday meeting, but did not mention a replacement or alternative name in the message.

Two online petitions are calling on the school to rename the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center and Sims at Women’s Quad. Caslen’s statement mentioned only the Sims building.

Thurmond was an ardent supporter of segregation in the 1940s and 1950s, and J. Marion Sims, considered the father of modern gynecology, conducted medical experiments on slaves.

“We are all endowed with human frailties and our products of our time, but the actions that are such a large part of Sims’ legacy are incompatible with respect for human dignity and the values we hold dear as a campus community,” Caslen said in the message.

The calls to rename the two buildings — an online petition to rename the fitness center has more than 12,000 signatures — comes amid nationwide outrage following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other African Americans by either law enforcement or white civilians.

Caslen, noting that many on social media have called for renaming the buildings, invited students, faculty and staff in a June 8 letter to have “open, honest dialogue” with him about the “harmful impact of racism in our country” at public and pro-diversity events such as the Dive-In Lunches and Welcome Table SC.

Caslen said his first official move as president was establishing the Presidential Commission on University History, which was “established to study and better understand the histories of the people whose names adorn our buildings, and – more broadly — to capture the voices and contributions of forgotten, excluded, or marginalized groups and individuals who positively contributed to the establishment, maintenance, and growth of our university.”

Clemson University has already taken a step in this direction. Clemson’s board of trustees unanimously removed the name of John C. Calhoun, a former vice president and slave owner, from the school’s honors program. The Clemson board also asked lawmakers to change the name of Tillman Hall, a campus landmark named after Benjamin Tillman, a militant racist.

Clemson still has parts of the university named after Thurmond, namely the Strom Thurmond Institute for Government and Public Policy.

Under the Heritage Act, only the state legislature can change the names of public buildings, meaning that if colleges want to rename their buildings, the legislature must approve it.

None of the six USC board of trustee members The State spoke with Monday said whether they would support or oppose the growing efforts to rename Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center or Sims at Women’s Quad.

Two of the members, Eddie Floyd and Egerton Burroughs, said they were either still making their minds up or weren’t sure how they felt about the issue.

“I don’t really have an opinion on it,” said Floyd, who has served on the board since the 80s.

Floyd said he is open to considering pushing for new building names, and that the board should “look at all suggestions.”

“If it’s a concern by anybody we should look into it,” Floyd said.

Even before the issue was added to the agenda, Burroughs told The State he expected the issue to come up.

“That would surprise me if that would not be up for discussion,” Burroughs said. “It’s something worth discussing.”

Three of the board members who responded to a request for comment, Hugh Mobley, Leah Moody and Eugene Warr, did not share their views and asked The State to contact the board chairman, which is board policy.

When The State contacted the chairman, Von Lehe, about his opinion on renaming the buildings, he said he was aware of the petitions to change the building names, but did not give his opinion on the possibility of renaming the buildings.

This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 3:30 PM.