What's in a name? A lot, say profs, alums

Logan Hall, named for one of Penn's founding trustees, will be renamed Claudia Cohen Hall this summer. Many members of the Penn community say they are uncomfortable with the change.

Last week's announcement that Logan Hall will be renamed Claudia Cohen Hall has raised a few eyebrows.

Penn faculty and students expressed surprise that historic buildings such as Logan Hall could be renamed after donors.

Logan Hall, named after one of Penn's founding trustees, will be renamed this summer after Claudia Cohen, an entertainment journalist and a 1972 College of Women graduate who passed away last summer. The renaming was requested by her ex-husband, University trustee Ronald Perelman, who was given the option to rename Logan Hall after donating $20 million in 1995 for the renovation of several buildings, including Logan Hall.

John Zeller, associate vice president for development and alumni relations, explained that buildings with honorific names - like Logan Hall -can be renamed, but buildings with donor names - like Huntsman Hall - may carry restrictions. He added that because donor agreements are very specific, each might carry different terms for renaming donor buildings.

Still, he said that changing the name of a building like College Hall - which can technically be renamed - would have to be approved by the President and the trustees of the University.

History Professor Richard Beeman, who served as the Dean of the College from 1998-2005, said he was "a bit taken aback at the lack of transparency in this agreement."

He added that he was unaware of any potential name change in the donor agreement, even though he was the associate dean of humanities when Perelman donated the money in 1995.

Later as the College Dean, he was still not informed of any potential name changes.

Adrienne Martin, assistant professor in the Philosophy department, said that although she and her colleagues were not upset by the renaming, the announcement was "a little jarring."

Although naming buildings after donors has become a common practice, Beeman said that it's unusual to completely rename a building when buildings can have hyphenated names recognizing both the original name and that of the most recent donor, such as Steinberg-Dietrich Hall.

Students and alumni also raised concerns that renaming Logan Hall would erase the history of the building.

Ronald Shur, a 1977 Wharton graduate, said that Penn should observe the history and tradition of the University because the building is an "icon . not a whiteboard that you can constantly erase."

Despite the name change, students said that next fall they will continue to refer to the buildings as Logan Hall because of the name's longevity.

"It feels like [the building] already has a name, and the students have known the building as Logan Hall for the past 100 years," College senior Monica Toledo said.

"It doesn't make any sense to rename it," said College sophomore Kelly Allred. "It's unacceptable."

Comments (18)

How's for a compromise - LoCo.

This renaming of an historic campus building is a terrible idea, and those involved in approving it should be ashamed of themselves and rescind the decision at once.

No disrespect, but I think that this is a horrible idea. Could a lecture hall be named in her honor instead? The frequent renaming of buildings, especially these past few years, has been far too awkward and confusing.

We, who at times have inferiority complexes in comparison to HYP and others, now will have to endure showing off Claudia Cohen Hall to friends and visitors. Academia at its best? Renaming a buidling after a person whose greatest contribution to society was to tell us whom Tom Cruise was dating, is patently absurd and embarrassing.

Why aren't more people attacking Ronald Perelman? He is the one who requested the name change...if it weren't for his selfishness, it wouldn't even be an issue.

how much money was donated to allow the name change? i think it's absurd to change a historic building's name without a substantial explanation. also "Claudia Cohen Hall" lacks the 'ivyesque' luster Logan Hall has/had.

I shudder to think what's next - Attending a basketball game at the Donny Deutsch-estra?

While I understand the administration's need for donations to fuel the great rise of our University, the incessant changing of landmark campus buildings will do more damage to the University in the long run. As an Alum surrounded by other ivy grads, I'm constantly seeing Harvard/Yale grads meeting for the first time and immediately associated based on their old House/Residential College that span generations. In my own Penn experience, my freshman dorm in the quad was Goldberg House when I applied, Woodland College House when I lived there, and Fisher-Hassenfeld when I left. Community House became Spruce, which then became Riepe Hamilton became Rodin And now, Logan, one of the forefathers of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, William Penn's colonial secretary, and a founding trustee of the College of Philadelphia that later became Penn, will see his name replaced by a donor's dead wife. I fully appreciate Ron Perelman's contributions to the University and admire his devotion to his wife, but as a leading Trustee, Mr. Perelman hopefully has the the long term vision to understand that to truly become go from "Excellence to Emminence," Penn needs historic, honored names that bind the memories of every Quaker across generations and geographies. The true value of the Penn education lies in the connections we make with our fellow students and faculty that are made colorful in our minds through cherished memories of our beautiful campus. Please don't jar that memory by forcing us to always second-guess where exactly was it that we had our memorable college experiences.

The donation and the individual should be highly honored, no question. Look at the Philly stadium complex. I can't name them. The old Spectrum? The old FU Center? How about the E Center, I mean Tweeter, I mean Susquehanna Bank. It's just too confusing when landmarks change their names. It's really no different than re-naming streets. Can't an impressive new building being built on the old post office land be newly named after someone, rather than changing a 100 year old one?

Claudia Cohen was a gossip columnist, was Ron Perelman's second wife of four. They divorced after 9 years and Cohen received $80M in settlements. Please, someone in the Moral Philosophy program housed in Logan Hall, step up and explain that it would be a smirch on Penn's name to have one of our most prominent academic buildings named after a gossip columnist and a Manhattan socialite.

[QUOTE id="7f9539f9-cfee-4c0d-8737-6656cfaa1779"]Why aren't more people attacking Ronald Perelman? He is the one who requested the name change...if it weren't for his selfishness, it wouldn't even be an issue.[/QUOTE] I suppose they're not attacking him because the "selfishness" of wanting the name change is counterbalanced by the lack of selfishness in donating $20 million.

Why not Steve Wynn University?

Horrible idea! There are/will be plenty of naming rights for new buildings. I didn't take Russian History in Cohen Hall!!!

.....the administration will probably not even address an issue that has a large portion of its employees and students upset because they never thought of the backlash when they accepted Mr. Perlman's terms in order to get the 20mill. Did they say "we'd be happy to name a brand new building after Claudia, but would like to keep Logan Hall Logan Hall? Somehow I doubt it. Was it right to give in to Mr. Perlman's terms in if he insisted? That's alot of money and another story will never know the answer to.

I agree it's a terrible name. But no doubt most of the people bashing it here have also whined that the University does not spend enough money on this or that pet cause. $20 million is a lot of money. I think the inconvenience and slight embarrassment of this chance pales in comparison to the benefits of the $20 million. I'll take this exchange any day.

the donation that permits this whole name change was given 13 years ago. why is perelman calling upon corollaries to his donation now?

I can't believe that Mr. Perelman thought it would be a good idea to deface one of the longest standing buildings at Penn with the name of his ex-wife. I can't comprehend the reasons why he would want to honor his ex-wife, first off, but even if he has a good reason - guilt perhaps - why not choose to name one of the new buildings being being constructed on the postal lands? Money is nice, but I think Penn administrators need to draw a line somewhere. Naming urinals (Rosengarten) and renaming historic Penn buildings is ludicrous.

[QUOTE id="a58b0080-d3f9-4b95-b05b-2b850456c535"]Claudia Cohen was a gossip columnist, was Ron Perelman's second wife of four. They divorced after 9 years and Cohen received $80M in settlements. Please, someone in the Moral Philosophy program housed in Logan Hall, step up and explain that it would be a smirch on Penn's name to have one of our most prominent academic buildings named after a gossip columnist and a Manhattan socialite.[/QUOTE] That 'gossip' columnist attended the university of pennsylvania herself and in edition editing the daily pennsylvanian (umm the website your commenting on right now). people really shouldnt pretend to know about things that they actually know nothing about. although the changing of the name of a historic building is somewhat jarring, one must look at the sentimentality of ronald perelman wanting to name a building in honor of his late ex wife.

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