Towson University Removes Slave Owners’ Names From Buildings

Towson University has decided to remove the names of slave owners from two dormitories following a vote by the University System of Maryland board of regents allowing the school to rename them.

The university created a 10-person committee comprised of students, faculty and staff a year ago that assessed whether changing the names would comply with university guidelines {snip} It unanimously recommended renaming Carroll Hall and Paca House. {snip}

Charles Carroll was one of Maryland’s first U.S. senators and William Paca served as the state’s third governor. Both signed the Declaration of Independence.

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Towson University president Kim Schatzel wrote in a letter to the board of regents that the school’s leadership didn’t consult with students or faculty when the buildings were named.

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Schatzel acknowledged the men’s contributions as founding fathers but questioned in a letter “how we can ask our students to accept living and sleeping in a residence hall that, as one student told me, ‘was named after a man that enslaved my ancestors {snip}.’”

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