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Daughters of the Confederacy reluctantly accepts Vanderbilt deal

Adam Tamburin
atamburin@tennessean.com

Tennessee's chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy said Tuesday it "had no legal option or alternative but to accept" $1.2 million from Vanderbilt University that will allow the school to rename a building the group helped finance.

A statement from attorney Doug Jones, who represents the group, bemoaned Vanderbilt's decision to rename Confederate Memorial Hall, which was built on the back of a $50,000 donation from the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1933. The group sued to block an early attempt to change the name, and a state appeals court ruled in 2005 that Vanderbilt needed to repay the current value of the donation in order to remove the word "Confederate" from the stone above the building's entrance.

The final terms of that deal were announced Monday after anonymous donors gave $1.2 million toward that purpose. Despite the payout, the organization said it was "disappointed that an institution such as Vanderbilt University would attempt to whitewash, sanitize and rewrite American history."

Vanderbilt to remove 'Confederate' from building name

University leaders, including Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos, have said the word is being removed because of symbolic ties with racism and slavery that are painful for Vanderbilt's increasingly diverse community. Many students have taken to social media to praise Vanderbilt's move, which was 14 years in the making.

But Jones disputed that claim in the statement, saying the name had nothing to do with slavery.

"Confederate Memorial Hall was not about the history of Nashville, Tennessee or even the South," the statement said. "Rather it is about the history of this country."

The university has already put a temporary covering over the building's name and a spokeswoman said arrangements are being made to install updated stonework later this year. Zeppos announced Monday that the university would begin hosting an annual conference to encourage continued conversations about "race, reconciliation and reunion."

"We are not saying this is not part of Vanderbilt's history," he said. "I think we teach history by how we talk about these events."

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and on Twitter @tamburintweets.