But Ceballo-Countryman, who is black and Latina, said the announcement reveals that the university’s attempts to engage with students following last semester’s protests were hollow.
“What I’m feeling right now is a deep state of mourning,” she said. “After they made students of color sit through a year of discussions, opening up about deep racial pain, they say we can’t change it. There’s no other way for me to interact with this university any more other than to be apathetic.”
The experience of living in Calhoun, she said, “has becoming increasingly violent.” She said she hopes to find a way to transfer to another residential college.
Others said Salovey’s reasoning resonated with them. Hasan Hanif, also a sophomore in Calhoun, said he saw little reason to erase names.
“Changing the name doesn’t make a difference,” Hanif said. “What matters is what you think about the larger issue.”
Dianne Lake, a senior who is black, said she noticed a “paradox” in the university’s decisions, which “moved one step forward” in honoring Murray but “one step, if not two steps, back” by naming the other new college after Franklin, who owned slaves, though he ultimately freed them.
Salovey said the suggestion of Franklin College came from a member of the Corporation, Charles B. Johnson, who considers the founding father a role model, according to Salovey. Johnson, former chairman of the investment firm Franklin Resources, made the new colleges possible in 2013 with a $250 million gift, the largest in Yale’s history.
“Charlie Johnson did not require that we name that college for anyone as a condition of his gift,” Salovey said Wednesday night. “He asked us when he made his gift ― and I really want you to remember that this is the largest single gift ever given to Yale ― he asked us to consider Benjamin Franklin as the namesake of a college.”
Lake said that naming the college for Franklin represents “another step into the past,” rather than moving into the future. Most vexing, she said, is the university’s strategic use of the past in defending Calhoun College. She said little has been done to educate students about Calhoun’s legacy ― and it is not clear to her how the new initiative will change that.
She said students troubled by the decisions were meeting to figure out a course of action, noting that the announcement came at “a strategically difficult time for students” ― right at the end of the semester. She said she still expected mobilization at some point.
A Yale Police officer was stationed outside of Calhoun Wednesday night, and said it was his understanding that an officer would be there through the night.
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