Serra dorm in Stern Hall will be renamed in honor of Sally Ride ’78, and Serra House will be renamed to honor Carolyn Lewis Attneave M.A. ’47 Ph.D. ’52 effective immediately, Provost Persis Drell announced to dorm residents on Wednesday evening. Serra House is an academic building within the Clayman Institute for Gender Research.
Ride, who died in 2012, was a physicist and astronaut who became the first American woman in space in 1983. Attneave was a psychologist who played a significant role in creating the field of Native American mental health before her death in 1992.
In determining the new names, two campus groups charged with the renaming looked to select individuals directly tied to California who reflect diversity, are deceased and have been previously overlooked.
The renaming follows over two years of controversy regarding the naming of campus features after Father Junipero Serra, who founded the Catholic mission system in California and has been sharply criticized for his mistreatment of Native Americans. On Sept. 13, 2018, the University announced its decision to rename Serra House, Serra dorm and Serra Mall. Serra Street, which runs from the eastern end of Serra Mall to El Camino Real, will retain its name. Junipero dorm in Serra Hall — named for the juniper tree and not Serra, despite popular misconceptions — will also retain its name.
Full story at Stanford Daily.
Neither the building nor the university are worthy of baring his name anyway. Gender research? Blasphemy.
And if Leland Stanford was still alive, he likely would be taking his name off of the university.
what other names cannot be linked to scandal
real or imagined (as in Serra”s case) ?
here’s an idea for the geniuses at stanford:
Bldg #1, Bldg #2, ………..