One Name Fixes Two Wrongs

Stories From the Field

One Name Fixes Two Wrongs

My undergraduate institution, Yale University, was founded by slave traders and didn’t admit women until 1969. Until recently, the buildings bore the marks of this unjust past. Stained glass windows included depictions of African slave markets. One residential college was named after a vocal advocate of slavery, John C. Calhoun. And no residential colleges were named after women.

In 2016, the tide of history began to turn. Following decades of protest, the university’s leadership renamed Calhoun College “Grace Hopper College,” after the computer science pioneer. The stained glass windows have been replaced, as well. My two wishes are that Yale continues to improve its representations of women and people of color, and that some clever social psychologist rigorously evaluates the effects of these changes on Yale students, staff, and faculty.

— Alana Conner, Ph.D.