Monmouth University Will Not Be Renaming Wilson Hall

West Long Branch, NJ - Monmouth University will not be removing Woodrow Wilson's name from Wilson Hall, an iconic building in the center of its campus. This past spring, the Jersey Shore university flirted with the idea of renaming Wilson Hall, responding to similar debates at Princeton and Yale. Here at Monmouth, it was university president, Paul Brown — not students — who first brought up the idea, asking students and faculty alike if they supported a name change. He met with students publicly and privately on the topic throughout the spring.

But on June 23, the university Board of Trustees voted not to rename the building. The vote was not unanimous, but was overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the name, said Monmouth University spokeswoman Tara Peters.

One recent graduate said she is "disappointed" in the Board's decision.

"I am disappointed, but it doesn't mean that the conversation is over. This may be one battle, but there are many more battles to be had," said Arianna Gordon, who just graduated from Monmouth University in May. Gordon is African-American and was president of school's African-American Student Union while she was there. She was also a tour guide and led prospective student tours through Wilson Hall.

Gordon said she was "hopeful" when Monmouth University first publicly started mulling the idea of renaming Wilson Hall.

"I understand Wilson Hall has been Wilson Hall for a very long time, and the idea that they didn't want to change it wasn't necessarily so unreasonable to me," she said. "But there should be change somewhere. It may not be the very public change of re-naming a building, but I do think this means Monmouth should still work to become more diverse and more inclusive of minority students."

"They fact that they even had the vote at all means they took into account the fact that these things are starting to matter and they mean a lot to students," she added.

Wilson Hall, named after the 28th president, sits right in the middle of campus. As president, Wilson re-instituted segregation in federal offices, denied African-American students admission to Princeton University and endorses the Ku Klux Klan. At Monmouth, Wilson Hall is built on the site of what used to be his Jersey Shore summer home. The original building was destroyed by a fire. This summer is the 100th anniversary of when Wilson first took up residence in West Long Branch in the summer of 1916.

“A very common refrain from our alumni was that while Wilson’s racist views are abhorrent, he was a product of his time, and that judging the values of a previous era by our own standards could lead toward the path of erasing unpleasant facts of history, which is never an appropriate action for any academic institution,” school president Brown said after the board's vote.

Gordon said she would like to see Monmouth's student body become more diverse.

"It's not that Monmouth was not inclusive, but wherever you go there are people who are not inclusive of diversity, or are ignorant," said Gordon, who received a degree in health studies. "Also, Monmouth University is in a very affluent area, and I know it could be hard for poorer or minority students to relate. I know they are trying to make the university a place that reflects the world and our country. Perhaps Monmouth is not moving as fast in that direction as some people would like, but they do have to keep pushing in that direction."

The school will make efforts to educate students about Wilson's entire legacy, the university said, but did not give specifics.