More than 100 students, alumni and community members packed a Middle Tennessee State University lecture hall on Tuesday for a public forum to debate whether to change the name of Forrest Hall.
The building is named after controversial Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest. His legacy has been denounced because of a massacre by his troops and his early involvement in the Ku Klux Klan.
African-American students like Arin Cooper were among those saying the building glorifies a racist.
“Every day, I’m forced to walk past a building that has the name of a man who traded, sold, and killed my ancestors,” she said. “Tell me this: If a Jewish student was to walk past an MTSU building on campus and it said Adolf Hitler Hall, how would he feel?”
Graduate student Amanda Brown said keeping the name would go against the university’s “True Blue” ideals, such as respecting diversity.
“We cannot continue to call ourselves an educational institution if we continue to allow uneducated and ignorant traditions,” she said. “We cannot say that black lives matter if we honor a man who actively fought to destroy black lives.”
Among defenders of the name was community member Charlie Wood, who said it makes sense for the university’s ROTC program to be housed in a building named for a military strategist.
“Bedford Forrest, this was a true military hero — whether you agree with his personal life or which side he fought on — and the ROTC building is a military function,” he said. “What better Tennessean could we name a military building after?”
One alum, Rob Mitchell, questioned the amount of effort going into tearing down the Forrest legacy.
“I just ask you to think about building a bridge rather than putting all of your effort into tearing something down,” he said.
A task force will decide on the name after more meetings, with recommendations available as soon as February. MTSU President Sidney McPhee
created the panel, and any name change decision could face further review by other state agencies.
Lauren Frederick contributed to this report.
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