Christopher Hanlon, a professor in the English department, has proposed renaming Douglas Hall, named after Stephen A. Douglas, to Douglass, named after Frederick Douglass.

“Stephen Douglas authored legislation that hurt the country by extending slavery and inciting violent insurrection,” said Hanlon. “I think that when we name buildings after public figures, we’re not simply remembering them but also honoring them. The problem is that Stephen Douglas had a dishonorable record of public service.”

The three residence halls, Lincoln, Stevenson and Douglas, are named after the three prominent figures in a debate over slavery. Though these debates took place over many different cities in Illinois, one of the debates was here in Charleston, extending some historical significance to this town.

What is said by some people is that changing the name would be somehow akin to forgetting Illinois history,” Hanlon said. “The point I would make is that the people who believe that the name ‘Douglas Hall’ is a positive way of commemorating the debates with Lincoln are the ones who are forgetting Illinois history, because those debates were about something, and the position Douglas articulated there was in no way equivalent, in a moral sense, to Lincoln’s.”

Hanlon also explained the conditions on which he’d accept no name change for the residence hall.

“What I would like to see is for someone who is against my idea to explain to me some of the positive achievements of Stephen Douglas and how his positive achievements mitigated the demonstrable harm he did to this country,” he said. “So far, I have met no one on this campus who seems prepared to do that.”

Martin Hardeman, an Eastern history professor, elaborated his side of the issue.

“I think that changing the name of Douglas Hall because of Stephan Douglas’ beliefs 100 years ago is essentially wrong. It seems to me an attempt to purify history, to make it better than it was,” Hardeman said. “Renaming would be a disservice to history, to the past, and to place our view of Douglas over the people who actually did name a residence hall after him.”

The campus’ reaction is mixed. Many students do not seem to know the significance of the residence hall’s name, and others fall into the category that Hanlon spoke of. A couple of Douglas residents, Michael Sperry and Jamie Firth, both sophomore management majors, admitted that they did not know who Stephen Douglas was.

Zachary Samples, a freshman history major with teacher certification, also had comments to add.

“I think that in order to move forward with this idea of renaming, that the residents of Douglas Hall and students need to be asked about this,” Samples said. “At face value, it’s a noble idea.”

Douglas Hall was established in the 1950s is a currently the home of about 200 Eastern students.

“I have a feeling that most students are apathetic about the name because they have no ideas who Douglas is. First educate, then make a decision. I do think our administration should be more concerned, and I also think it is a problem because it’s the 1850’s. The names of our buildings should reflect our school’s values, not those of a misguided politician who has been dead for 150 years,” said Nicholas Canaday, a junior English major said.

There will be a panel discussion with Hanlon, Hardeman, Michael Louden, of the English department, and Voss-Hubbard, of the history department.

“Having a real discussion about this proposal, even if it doesn’t result in changing the name, could result in a more engaged relationship with history among Eastern students and provoke a conversation about what our values are,” Hanlon stated.

The Stephen Douglas panel will be held on Nov. 1 in the Doudna Fine Arts Lecture Hall at 7 p.m. to further explain the issue at hand.

Jacob Swanson can be reached at 581-7942 or jjswanson2@eiu.edu