The University of Michigan’s Inclusive History Project has convened a task force of university leadership, faculty, staff and students to develop new policies and procedures for new honorific namings of university facilities and spaces.
The task force’s 15 members are drawn from the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses and Michigan Medicine. It will begin meeting this month and plans to make recommendations to the Office of the President by the end of the academic year.
MORE INFORMATION
The idea for the task force grew out of work by the IHP — the university’s multifaceted initiative to study, document and share the university’s history of inclusion and exclusion — to better understand the current landscape regarding new and historical namings of facilities and spaces at U-M.
The IHP recommended to President Santa J. Ono, and Ono agreed, that a task force should be formed and recommend revised policies and procedures for new honorific namings at the university.
At the IHP’s recommendation, Ono also decided that the IHP will advise him on matters related to the history of the university, and that a new group, the President’s Advisory Committee on Historical Naming, will provide advice and recommendations on matters related to historical names in and on university buildings. These responsibilities had previously been handled by the President’s Advisory Committee on University History.
Kristin Hass, professor of American culture in LSA and faculty coordinator of the Humanities Collaboratory, will co-chair the Honorific Naming Task Force with IHP co-chair Earl Lewis. Lewis is the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afroamerican and African Studies and Public Policy; professor of history, and of Afroamerican and African studies in LSA; professor of public policy in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; and director of the Center for Social Solutions.
MEET THE TASK FORCE
The current policy and guidelines for naming facilities, spaces and streets, first adopted by the Board of Regents in 2008 and revised in subsequent years, govern both donor and honorific namings. They specify that namings may:
- Recognize financial contributions to support the structure or structures named.
- Honor a donor’s long-term and significant financial contributions to the university.
- Honor individuals by recognizing exceptional contributions shaping the university.
- Commemorate university history and traditions.
Beyond providing these broad criteria, the policy says little about honorific naming that is not related to financial contributions. For example, it does not provide more precise criteria for what kinds and levels of non-financial contributions might qualify for honorific naming, nor does it articulate guidelines or processes for proposing or considering individuals for honorific namings.
“This task force aims to help the university to consider more deeply who is valued on our campuses via honorific naming by clarifying the principles and processes that lead to new honorific namings,” Hass said.
Lewis added, “Because the act of naming buildings is not only a memorialization of a particular individual but also a statement about what and whose contributions have particularly mattered in our university’s history, the Inclusive History Project is proud to be convening this effort.”
The task force will work through this winter term to articulate principles and criteria for new honorific namings and to design a more open and transparent process for soliciting and considering nominations for honorific namings.
