Columbia University to Remove the Name of a Slave Owner From a Campus Building

In 1931, a residence hall at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center was named for Samuel Bard, the founder of what is now Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Today, Bard Hall is a dormitory for clinical students at the medical school. Dr. Bard was a significant physician in the 18th century, a pioneer in obstetrics and treating diphtheria, who served as George Washington’s doctor.

Dr. Bard also owned at least three slaves. In 1776 he published an advertisement that promised a reward for the return of a fugitive slave.

Columbia University President Lee Bollinger recently announced that the name of the building would be changed. The name change is “urgent not only for the individuals who have been asked to call Bard Hall home, but for the many students, staff, and faculty in the broader Columbia community, and especially vivid at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where the contradiction between the egalitarian health service norms they cherish and slavery’s denial of full human standing is starkly blatant and offensive,” Dr. Bollinger wrote in a letter to the university community.

President Bollinger said a new name for the building will be selected later this fall.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Howard University Achieves R1 Status While North Carolina A&T State University Falls Short

Howard University has received the prestigious R1 Carnegie Classification, making the institution eligible for major federal grants. NCA&T University narrowly missed the achievement, averaging just three less annual doctoral graduates than the classification's requirements.

Three Black Scholars Selected for Endowed Faculty Positions

The new endowed professors are Eddie Chambers at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Stefanie Dunning at the University of Rochester in New York, and Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire at Harvard University.

North Carolina Central University Establishes Early Assurance Program With the UNC School of Pharmacy

Students at North Carolina Central University now have the opportunity to apply to an early assurance program for the doctor of pharmacy degree program at the University of North Carolina's Eshelman School of Pharmacy, the top-ranked pharmacy school in the United States.

Five Black Administrators Taking on New Roles at HBCUs

The appointments are Anthony Neal at Florida A&M University, Tara Cunningham at Dillard University in New Orleans, David Camps at North Carolina A&T State University, Michael Meyers at Paine College in Georgia, and Sidney Brown at Tuskegee University in Alabama.

Featured Jobs