Advice | September 4, 2017 4:26 pm

Yale Plans Ceremony for College That Dropped Name of Pro-Slavery Vice President

The name was changed seven months ago to honor of mathematician Grace Murray Hopper.

Grace Hopper College, formerly known as Calhoun College, at Yale University. (Kathryn Donohew Photography/Getty)

Yale University will celebrate the renaming of its residential college in a “ceremonial baptism” Sept. 5.

The ceremony comes after years of protests over the college being named after John C. Calhoun, a former U.S. vice president who supported slavery and a Yale graduate.

Seven months ago, Yale renamed Calhoun College in honor of Grace Murray Hopper, a pioneering mathematician who received both a master’s degree and a doctorate from Yale.

“The atmosphere around the college is extraordinarily upbeat right now,” Head of Hopper College Julia Adams told the Yale Daily News. “Many students have told me how much they are looking forward to the baptism of the college.”

Meanwhile, communities and universities across the nation face fierce debates and protests over how they should handle monuments to Confederate leaders and pro-slavery politicians.