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To: .cnI redruM; Howlin; Clemenza; TonyRo76
College towns have been mentioned on this thread, and as it happens, both of my Southerm alma maters have been embroiled in controversies over Confederate Memorials. The United Daughters of the Confederacy were involved in both cases.

Vanderbilt University: In 1935, a grant of $50,000 (and that was serious money in the middle of the Depression) by the United Daughters of the Confederacy helped fund the construction of dormitory named Confederate Memorial Hall on the campus of Peabody College (Vanderbilt has since taken over Peabody, whose campus is across 24th Avenue, South from Vanderbilt's main campus).

A few years ago, Vanderbilt summarily decided to remove the name "Confederate," in an effort to be "more inclusive." They were sued by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who alleged breach of contract. The Court found the contract regarding the name of the building to be null and void, so "Confederate Memorial Hall" is no more, alas.

Ah, but Vanderbilt can't completely run from its past. The late Senator from Mississippi, Theodore Bilbo, whose views on racial matters were, shall we say, at odds with the current concept of enlightenment, was an alum of Vanderbilt Law -- something I've never heard the university brag about.

University of North Carolina: In 1913, a statue of a Confederate soldier, paid for by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and in honor of the approximately 1,000 students of UNC who served in the Confederate armed forces (that was about 40% of the enrollment at the time) was placed in a prominent location in the old part of the campus, McCorkle Place, facing Franklin Street. The soldier carries a rifle, and he soon came to be known as "Silent Sam": legend has it that he fires his rifle every time he sees a virgin, hence his quietude (or at least, that's the story which is always told to parents during parental orientation tours).

Silent Sam has been under sporadic attack by the NAACP, certain professors, and liberal groups for quite a few years; thus far, efforts to remove him have failed.

18 posted on 02/24/2005 2:50:20 PM PST by southernnorthcarolina (<b><font color=e58d0e>Did you know that HTML codes don't work on tag lines?</font></b>)
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