UPDATED: June 19 at 4:55 p.m.
Murray Hall and the adjacent North Murray Hall at Oklahoma State University's campus in Stillwater will get new names after an OSU Board of Regents meeting Friday.
The OSU A&M Board of Regents voted unanimously to strip the names. Regent Doug Burns said he was proud of the process the university took in renaming the building.
"It is something that all of us should be very proud of, that we do have a process in place at our board that allows for that type of a deliberative, communicative process," Burns said.
ORIGINAL POST:
Murray Hall sits near the entrance of Oklahoma State University's campus in Stillwater. The building, and the adjacent North Murray Hall, were named for Oklahoma Governor “Alfalfa” Bill Murray in 1935.
But the buildings will no longer have his name if the OSU Board of Regents votes to strip it at a Friday meeting.
In a letter Wednesday, OSU President Burns Hargis requested the name change because of Murray’s racist and outdated views. The former governor was an avowed segregationist, anti-semite and was often at odds with college leaders.
"For many on our campus, the building’s name has invoked reminders of this painful history," Hargis said in a statement. "Oklahoma State is committed to eliminating systemic racism and embracing our responsibility as a university to support solutions to the inequality and injustice our country and community faces."
Tucker Link, the OSU A&M Board of Regents Chair, said in a statement that the regents "fully intend" to consider Hargis' recommendation to consider and vote the resolution into action.
Students and school administrators first began pushing to change the name of the building in 2002 and various efforts have gone on since then. However, a recent change.org petition sparked by nationwide activism appears to have had a strong effect.
