College of the Holy Cross has been in the middle of a growing controversy over the name of one of its buildings—Mulledy Hall. The administration sent an email to the student body explaining the decision.
The email read:
“Dear students of College of the Holy Cross. In response to the controversy over Father Mulledy’s involvement in the slave trade over a hundred years ago, we have decided that we should rename the building to promote presentist social justice. Since Father Mulledy was involved in the atrocity of the slave trade, and Father Brooks skillfully brought this college in the direction of racial diversity, we propose renaming the building Mulledy-Brooks-Martin Luther King Jr. Hall, in order to respect the past as well as move to the future.”
Unfortunately, students were not satisfied. One posted to Facebook, “Wait, I’m sorry, what does Martin Luther King, have to do with this? Like I guess he was good, but did he go to Holy Cross or something?”
Another student argued, “What did this change accomplish? People who wanted the name to change will be upset, and people who wanted the name to stay the same will also be upset. Also I’m pretty sure that Martin Luther King didn’t go here, and he was Baptist, not Catholic, so…”
The Alumni were even less happy about this arrangement. One tweeted, “Martin Luther King actually did once give a speech in the Holy Cross field house back in 1962. He was a great man and all, but I don’t think that really warrants naming a building after him. Also isn’t Brooks already the name of the music building?”
As a response to posts such as these, the administration responded once again. “We have heard your complaints loud and clear, and therefore we propose to change the name of Fenwick, Hogan, and Stein to Martin Luther King Jr. Hall.” We understand that it might be a bit confusing at first, but we’re confident that you will figure it out.”
This might have gone a bit too far for many of the students, who in turn responded through social media.
One rising senior was so upset that he posted, “I lived in Mulledy my freshman year, and I was always proud of my hall. And I’m sorry, Martin Luther King did some incredible things to fight for civil rights, but he was from Georgia, and he really isn't relevant to the conversation at hand.”
Another student found sarcasm as his best tool to fight these changes, “Ohhhh, sure, I think it’s a great idea! Why don’t we just rename all the buildings on campus Martin Luther King Hall!”
The schools administration responded with the following email:
“Dear students of the Martin Luther King Jr. College for Social Justice, I am pleased to inform you that the Nelson Mandela Library will be opening next Saturday…”
