Hundreds of people came together on Friday afternoon to protest the controversial name of Calhoun College, a residential college on Yale University's campus, according to the Yale Daily News.
There have been weekly protests since July to rename Calhoun College by a New Haven activist group Unidad Latina en Accion, but this protest on Friday was a culmination of work from over 40 groups from New Haven and Yale. The building was named after John C. Calhoun, a former United States vice president and defender of slavery.
"Do you go off and build Hitler colleges? We remember our history but we don’t want to exemplify the parts we regret," said Brian Timko, a New Haven rally leader who spoke to YDN.
The protesters started rallying at New Haven Green and went to Woodbridge Hall to deliver a letter to Yale President Peter Salovey explaining the need to rename the building. Numerous activists gave speeches at these two places and marched down three main streets of New Haven with banners demanding the name change.
The protest was mainly focused on the changing of the building's name, but some people at the protest said this would not be enough. Protesters identified images in Yale buildings depicting slaves, and others discussed institutional racism at Yale.
Similar protests have occurred at other colleges, including at Princeton University where the school was unsuccessfully petitioned to remove former President Woodrow Wilson's name from school buildings. Students there had cited Wilson's segregationist views.
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