Arnold Dining Halls remains unchanged despite being named after a racist figure – The Daily Barometer

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Six years ago, community members posed a question: What does it mean for Oregon State University to value equity and inclusion if the people whose buildings are named after them don’t weren’t doing?

The question unearthed much of OSU’s past and sparked a whole building reconsideration project.

Although the names of some of the buildings in question have been changed, there remains one in particular that shares a similar history to the others: Arnold Dining Hall.

Former OSU President Edward J. Ray made the ultimate decision to change the names of three of the five implicated buildings:

Avery Lodge at Champenifu Lodge Benton Hall at Community Hall Benton Annex at Hattie Redmond Women and Gender Center Gill Coliseum was the other building alongside Arnold Dining Hall to see no change to its name

As the name of Arnold Dining Halls remains unchanged, so does the story of the man whose name the room bears.

According to Historical Records of OSU Building Names: Arnold’s Dining Hall, Benjamin Lee Arnold was born around 1837. During his childhood, his father Jonathan J. Arnold owned a total of seven slaves ranging in age from one to thirty years old.

Although he may not have owned slaves himself due to his age, he directly experienced and benefited from the institution of slavery, according to the report.

According to the report, during his college years, Arnold attended Virginias Randolph Macon College where he studied slavery. Arnold took courses such as political economy and domestic slavery in which he received good grades.

The textbook used in this class, written by William A. Smith, was pro-slavery.

We don’t know that Arnold shared all or some of his teachers’ opinions, but they must have shaped his thinking on issues of slavery and race, according to the report.

According to the report, Arnold enlisted in the Confederate Army after college, starting as a private and likely later promoted to captain. However, Arnolds’ service remains uncertain due to incomplete military records.

In 1872, he became the second president of the OSU, elected by the Methodist Episocal Church of the South, known for its separation from the Methodist Episocal Church for its pro-slavery and pro-segregation ideals.

With his history of pro-slavery and pro-segregation ideals, the question can still be asked whether or not Arnold is worthy of representing an OSU building.

I’m not shocked, said Josh McCormick, a sophomore at OSU when he found out the real story.

According to McCormick, there are many pressures for certain movements that help certain groups, but when it comes to changing the name of a building because of its racist past, it becomes a bigger dilemma.

If we were investing time and energy in other progressive movements, we should be investing time and energy in all movements to make everyone feel included, McCormick said.

Just the fact that he was in the [Confederate] army, he makes it clear which side he was on, personally. So I also think that substantiates that he was actually fighting on the Confederate side in the Civil War, said Brandon Hamilton, a third-year student at OSU,

According to Hamilton, he thinks there are more people in OSU’s past who could be honored by renaming the building.

We should be prepared to recognize the honor and dignity of those who have spent their lives simply improving the world around them: the teacher, who has lived his whole life enriching the lives of students, is equally worthy of honor and respect than the influential principal, mayor or even president, said Ryan Dukelow, a third-year student at OSU.

When asked, every respondent said the Arnold Dining Rooms name should be changed.

I really think (the name) should be changed. Now, I think a lot of people aren’t aware that our dining hall is named after something like that. I feel like if more students or people in general knew about this, the more petitions there would be to change it, Hamilton said.

Dukelow often calls the dining hall the Southside Dining Hall because the name infers its location for people unfamiliar with campus.

According to Dukelow, Arnold Dining Hall was built by many hard workers whose names of the buildings could not be remembered, and the workers who currently serve in the building and the students who eat there every day have had no say in the matter. say about the denomination.

It just goes to show that in the state, or just in this country, there are a lot of racist or non-inclusive efforts going on that we’re not necessarily aware of. And the only way to realize this is simply to be better informed about the issue, Hamilton said. This is another example of how this country is somehow built on racism.

Ultimately, after discovering the story behind the name, OSU students say Arnold Dining Hall should no longer represent the pro-slavery, pro-segregationist ideals it stands for today.

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