USC students, alumni and athletes join in call to rename Strom Thurmond building

The University of South Carolina is facing increased calls to rename a major building on campus that’s named after a prominent S.C. lawmaker and ardent segregationist.

Moe Brown, a former USC football player and current Congressional candidate, led a press conference Friday in front of the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center to call on officials to change the building’s name. Others attending the news conference included the student government president and vice president; women’s head basketball coach Dawn Staley; and other athletes.

Brown also read statements of support from former running back Marcus Lattimore and Olympic gold medalist Natasha Hastings.

Changing the name is part of a “collective effort to create a more inclusive and diverse university,” Brown said at the press conference.

“Violence, hatred and bigotry toward Black folks in this country have stopped us from creating a more perfect union,” said Brown, a Democrat who is challenging Republican incumbent Ralph Norman in the 5th Congressional District, which includes York, Chester and Lancaster counties.

Asked for replacement names, Brown said he had a few ideas but did not want to undercut USC President Robert Caslen, who is held a public meeting Friday to solicit input on new campus names for buildings.

“We’re not trying to be combative with the university,” Brown said. “We’re looking to be collaborative.”

Thurmond, a former South Carolina governor, was a U.S. senator from 1954 until 2003. He was a third-party candidate for president in 1948, representing the States’ Rights Democratic Party, or Dixiecrats, whose campaign slogan was “Segregation Forever.” He died in 2003.

Thurmond fought for segregation into the 1960s.

Because of South Carolina’s Heritage Act, state lawmakers must agree before the names of public buildings can be changed. Brown is “confident” the Heritage Act will not stop the name from being changed, he said.

Repealing the Heritage Act has garnered support among social justice groups, students and more.

“I think universities need autonomy over name changes,” USC Student Body President Issy Rushton, who was at the press conference, told The State.

After the press conference, Caslen issued a statement saying he is “fully committed” to creating a more inclusive environment and noted several of his accomplishments, such as appointing the first Black provost, William Tate, in USC’s history.

“I appreciate Moe Brown and our former athletes adding their voices to this issue,” Caslen said in the statement. “I have heard from many students, faculty and other members of the community who share their concerns. We must work toward a more inclusive environment where all of our students feel valued. I am fully committed to this.”

Energy to rename buildings on USC’s campus has picked up steam since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May and the ensuing civil rights movements. Recently, the board of trustees agreed to ask state lawmakers to rename a women’s dorm named after J. Marion Sims, who founded modern gynecology, but also experimented on slaves without using anesthesia.

The movement to rename USC campus buildings got another boost last week when incoming board of trustees chair C. Dorn Smith said in his first speech as chair that changing the names of some campus buildings is “past due.”

During that speech, Smith said some of the replacement names could include Richard Greener, USC’s first Black professor, and Henrie Monteith Treadwell, the first Black woman to integrate USC during the civil rights movement.

Brown, Lattimore, Hastings and Cheslie Kryst, a former track and field athlete and current Miss USA, gave a presentation to the USC’s Presidential Commission on University History about why the Thurmond building should be renamed.

In their presentation, the former student athletes said changing renaming the center would change what message the school sends to prospective students.

“It’s about prospective students in the future who visit USC who might feel as if they do not belong because of the constant reminder they walk by every day,” Lattimore said. “It’s about our staffers who work tirelessly to recruit student athletes but must find creative ways as to why it is OK for their Black sons to enter that building.”

Kryst said 83% of the cost to build the wellness and fitness center was paid for by students through an activity fee. Only $100,000 came from private donations, which included $10,000 from Thurmond.

William Hubbard, the dean of the law school who serves on the university committee, said a donor would probably have to give $20 million to $25 million to have a building named after him or her. Hubbard said there was an understanding that Thurmond would call his network of donors to help pay for the center, rather than it being paid for with activity fees.

“That was never the intent going into the process,” Hubbard said.

Jennifer Gunter, the director of the USC Collaborative on Race and Reconciliation, said the presentation needs to be made in front of legislators who can make the decision to change the name.

“If we could make this decision, I think things would have happened already,” Gunter said. “And I think your voices could be the persuasion that’s needed.”

Staley, the women’s basketball coach, also spoke at the Friday news conference. She has been public about her belief that the Thurmond building should be renamed.

“I haven’t shied away from my beliefs...I’m standing by them,” Staley said, saying the building name was creating a schism on campus. “If anybody is creating a division on this campus they have to go.”

Other members of the university community, such as Student Body Vice President Hannah White, also attended.

From her conversations with students, White said she is “absolutely not standing alone,” in her support for changing the name of USC’s gym.

“Many students have been advocating for this for years,” White said.

Renaming campus buildings such as the Strom Thurmond center is a powerful symbolic gesture, but more must be done to make campus a more equitable place, White said. One place that starts is with educating students on how slaves and Black Americans built USC.

“It’s a start,” White said. “It’s the beginning.”

This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 2:04 PM with the headline "USC students, alumni and athletes join in call to rename Strom Thurmond building."