In October, Doehler Chair and Professor of History David Carey, Professor of English Sondra Guttman, and some of Guttman’s students created a petition for the name change of Loyola’s Jenkins Hall to Dorsey Hall. The call for the change emerges from the history that the names carry with them.
Jenkins Hall was named after George Carrell Jenkins, a Confederate Civil War veteran who fought to perpetuate enslavement and remained an advocate of the Confederacy’s ‘lost cause’ until he died. The proposed change would rename the building after Charles H. Dorsey, Jr., who became the first Black student at Loyola.
Carey notes that the renaming of Jenkins Hall is not to completely erase the history that is tied with the building. Rather, he points out that the role Dorsey played was extremely important in setting the precedent of diversity here at Loyola.
“Charles Dorsey, who was the first full-time black student at Loyola, came here at a time when desegregation was very difficult. Within a month of him being here, the theater department put on a show and had black faces. When they hosted a dance for the campus, they rented a facility that did not allow him to use all of the facility. He was faced with tremendous challenges and yet thrived at this place, and later went on to become an incredible lawyer,” Carey said.
Carey also credits the other half of this story. While he does identify that Jenkins may not be viewed favorably amongst people today, he emphasises that his role in the school’s creation is engraved (literally) on the walls of Jenkins Hall.
“I think it’s crucial because it’s now named after someone who was a very generous donor… The campus that we enjoy now would not be here. But he also was a member of the confederate army. He fought against the U.S government. He fought in defense of slavery. If we are leaning into our Jesuit values, that’s someone that we would not want to celebrate,” Carey said.
Sharing a similar opinion, Conor Lynch ‘28 disscusses how important it is to cover all sides of history. Part of that history was the Confederacy’s support of the ‘lost cause,’ which attempted to reframe the Civil War as a conflict of state rights rather than over the keeping of enslaved peoples. Lynch explains that by observing the history of Jenkins and his support of the lost cause, it paints a more vivid picture for the Loyola community.
“I think Jenkins’s support of the ‘lost cause’ is a really interesting and important thing that we need to remember. He advocated for misinformation about America’s history and I think that renaming it to Dorsey Hall helps us remember a more holistic history of Loyola,” Lynch said.
This history gives the Loyola community a chance to unite for change, as Elise Dougherty ‘28 explains. Dougherty highlights that petition is an opportunity to tell a story. When there is a story to tell, people usually gather around to listen.
“We’re thinking a lot about the stories we want to tell and the messages we want to send. I think that Loyola, especially today with our commitment to trying to increase diversity and equity and inclusion on campus, the stories we want to be telling are the stories of people like Charles Dorsey,” Dougherty said.
Such a call for change does not go without its roadblocks. While the petition has had more than 500 signatures supporting the change as of Nov. 10, efforts to spread awareness have been slowed due to unawareness of university rules.
“We have run into some logistical errors. We began petitioning outside of Jenkins, trying to get people to sign it. We handed out flyers and buttons. We were stopped because our flyers had not been approved by the campus. It was a process for us to figure [it] out since we are a class and not a student organization, ” Dougherty explained.
Dougherty shares her gratitude for Carey and the student organization Reimaging Inequities through Storytelling & Empowerment (R.I.S.E) for their combined efforts of promoting and assisting with the petition. After the approval of the flyers, promotion of the petition resumed in early November.
For more information, there will be an event on the name change efforts in the 4th Floor Program Room of the Andrew White Student Center on Nov. 20 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Community Engagement Associate at Georgetown University Mélisande Short-Colomb will be present at the event to participate in a discussion panel that will dive deeper into Loyola’s history.