What's in a name?

Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., is embroiled in a tussle with the United Daughters of the Confederacy over the name of a residence hall the group helped build. Vanderbilt wants to change the name because of the campus' increasingly diverse student body. The UDC wants to maintain the name because it believes a 1930s contract entitles the group to demand the maintenance of the name. \nThe building's name? Confederate Memorial Hall.\nThe UDC wants to keep it as it is because the dorm was built as a memorial to Southern soldiers. \n"This name was given in good faith. This is not about race at all, and I resent that. It's about a contract," Jennie Jo Hardison, a UDC member, told the Associated Press Jan. 6. \nWe're not buying it. \nApparently, neither are the courts. \n"You're arguing social values and making the courts be the tough guy," Judge William Cain told the AP, although a definite ruling is still pending. There is skepticism about the legitimacy of the contracts the UDC is citing. Parts of the agreement were oral and portions of documents are unsigned. In 2003, a lower court ruled that the University could remove the name, but the word is still etched in stone above the building. The issue now, it seems, is actually removing it.\nThe point is not that pro-name-change groups are trying to rewrite history or devalue Southern culture. The word "confederate" doesn't directly signify racism, the Civil War or legitimize slavery. But to many people, that is exactly what it brings to mind. The word has become a symbol of a shameful part of our history and gives it unnecessary weight. We'd like it if we could just take the world at face value, but in many cases, it's impossible to separate a symbol with its meaning. It's also not as if we would be marginalizing history with the action of altering the name. Nobody is forgetting the Civil War. This is 2005. We should know by now that making allowances for these Civil War relics isn't good for anyone. We understand that the women of the UDC are fighting for a part of their heritage. That's an emotional issue. Vanderbilt is fighting what it sees as a shameful part of our country's history and the painful racial heritage attached to it. That's an emotional issue, too. It would be supremely useful if both sides could detach from the ethos of the situation and acknowledge that logically, it makes sense to change the name. This isn't a fight worth fighting. \nOn a lighter note, we see a golden opportunity for Vanderbilt. The university wants to simply remove the word "confederate" from the dorm's name, leaving it "Memorial Hall."\nHogwash.\nThe University ought to use the fight as a fund-raising opportunity. Raffle the name rights off to the highest corporate bidder, use the money for a fitness room and make it the coolest dorm on campus. OK, maybe Vanderbilt's too classy for that. If that's the case, let a few local or national organizations duke it out over the naming rights, but if they choose this option, let them use the UDC mess as a learning opportunity and contractually give all names a 50-year shelf life. \nBut either way, we just can't advocate letting the "Confederacy" stand.