How should colleges and universities deal with buildings named for historical figures that supported ideas or positions that today we find reprehensible? Should we continue to honor the legacy of slaveholders, KKK members, or pro-segregation leaders? This isn’t an academic argument as many universities, particularly in the South, have faced protests from students and other constituencies. However, nearly every major historical figures has aspects of their lives that we can take issue with today. How do we decide which ones stay and which need to go?
One of the hardest things that I have to help students think through in my history of higher education courses is how to consider moral issues and historical circumstances. For example, how do we consider the arguments of someone who advocated against women in higher education when we would all disagree with that position today?