The MU Faculty Council voted Thursday to support a resolution to rename a new residence hall after Lucile Bluford. Bluford was rejected from the university 11 times in the early 1900s because she was African-American. She went on to become a successful journalist and civil rights activist until her death in 2003.
Faculty council member Berkley Hudson says the council and the diversity enhancement committee wanted to add their voices to support those like Bluford who have advocated for civil rights in the past.
“In doing so, it acknowledges her critical role in the fight for improving race relations at Mizzou in the 20th century,” Hudson says.
In recent years, the university has struggled with race relations and acknowledging its racial history, Hudson says. He says that renaming a residence hall after Bluford is part of a process of owning, acknowledging and celebrating the university’s history.
“It’s a way to add both truth and reconciliation to that long term process of improving race relations at Mizzou and it gives physical testimony of that,” he says.
Legion of Black Collegians executive member Autumn Henderson-Carson says renaming a hall would be a step in the right direction but the university still needs to improve its race relations.
“For instance, Rollins was a slave owner, but we still have Rollins as the residence hall on campus. So it is progressive in a way, but we have to recognize that Mizzou has a lot of places on campus that still perpetuate the idea of racism,” she says.
Henderson-Carson says that the university’s progress, however, is important.
“They are at least trying to become more inclusive and diverse with not only their students but other departments,” Henderson-Carson says. “So I think it is a slow step but they are making those steps to becoming more progressive.”
Bluford received a Missouri Honor Medal from the university’s journalism school in 1984 and an honorary doctorate in humanities degree in 1989. In 2016, July 1 became “Lucile Bluford Day.” Hudson says Bluford’s memory should not be limited at the university.
“There can be scholarships in her name and other things done,” Hudson says.
Hudson says that the council approving this resolution is a “just and good thing to do.” The Board of Curators has yet to approve a new name for the residence hall.