Confederates in the Dorm

By Gary Ashwill / May 5, 2005

From the Tennessean:

Vanderbilt University cannot remove the word "Confederate" from a campus dorm called Confederate Memorial Hall, an appeals court has ruled.

The unanimous ruling Tuesday reversed a decision of the Davidson County Chancery Court in 2003 that had OK'd Vanderbilt's intention to erase the chiseled word from the building.

But the state Court of Appeals left open the possibility that the private university could strip the word if it paid the United Daughters of the Confederacy the present-day value of its $50,000 contribution that helped build the dorm 70 years ago.

The appellate court said the Chancery Court would have to determine what that amount is. The contribution would be worth roughly $700,000 today because of inflation.

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