The Board of Visitors’ Buildings and Grounds Committee voted to recommend renaming Alderman Library to Edgar Shannon Library during its Thursday meeting. The recommendation moves the proposal ahead to the Full Board which convened Friday. The Board also approved designs for a North Grounds parking garage and Darden student housing during the Committee’s meeting.
The proposal would rename the library after the University’s fourth president, Edgar Shannon, who initiated coeducation and racial integration at the University. The proposal was on the Buildings and Grounds Committee’s agenda at the Board’s December meeting, but the committee postponed the vote until the current session.
The proposal was first put forward by John Unsworth, University librarian and dean of libraries, who formally requested the name change in June 2021. It was first sent to the University's Naming and Memorials Committee, an organization created by President Jim Ryan in February 2021 which comprises both Board members and University faculty. The proposal was sent to the Buildings and Grounds Committee in May 2023.
After discussion between the Committee’s eleven members, ten voted to recommend the new name to the Full Board, with only Paul Harris voting against.
The proposed renaming also includes installing a dedication to the University’s first president Edwin Alderman above the central arch on the building, installing similar dedications on the East and West arches as well as leaving the plaque dedicated to him in front of the building.
Lillian Rojas, student member of the Board and fourth-year Batten student, said the library’s renaming has been part of conversations among students for years and that an overwhelming majority of students support the renaming.
“They’re really seeing Shannon as somebody that was not only a leader in his day and age, but that they can look to as a leader now as we grapple with these difficult times here,” Rojas said.
The reopening of the library in January, after nearly four years of renovations, spurred debates among University members over the library’s name. Student Council members passed a resolution to support an open letter urging the Board to change the name, citing Alderman’s history of racist beliefs and contributions to eugenicist practices at the University during his time as president from 1905 to 1931.
Unsworth began the renaming process in 2021 by submitting a formal name change request to the University’s Naming and Memorial Committee, a group formed by Ryan to study the contextualization of statues and buildings on Grounds.
Harris disagreed with the proposal, saying that history cannot be contextualized by renaming buildings and that University community members are in a culture war over the shared history of the University.
“I would like to see this University devote its resources to building bridges across the issues that divide us,” Harris said, “Rather than searching … to find human imperfections of past leaders for the sole purpose of condemning those who did not and cannot meet unforgiving and impossible standards.”
Harris said he was disappointed that the Naming Committee failed to recommend a diverse and inclusive slate of candidates for renaming, which he said could include alumnae of color, but he said the bigger issue is that the renaming reflects our unforgiving culture.
“This vote is yet another sad reminder of the graceless world in which we live,” Harris said. “Renaming buildings is a discouraging reflection of our culture, a culture that is no friend to grace.”
Beyond moving the vote to rename Alderman Library forward, the Committee also approved several construction projects across Grounds.
They approved plans for the construction of a parking garage at North Grounds that will sit at the intersection of Massie Road and Copeley Road and provide event parking for John Paul Jones Arena and nearby athletics venues. The garage will require the demolition of eight buildings in the Copeley Apartments, which currently provide housing for graduate students.
While the North Grounds garage will destroy some graduate student housing, the Committee also approved designs for new student housing to be built near the Darden School of Business, which will provide 218 units and 348 beds to support Darden students. The new designs reflected feedback from the Board after they reviewed the schematic designs of the housing project in their December meeting.
The Committee also approved the demolition of the Emmet Street pedestrian bridge at the School of Education and Human Development. The bridge will be replaced by the new Walker Bridge leading to the Contemplative Commons.
Lastly, the Committee voted on action items in relation to the Fontaine Research Park. They approved naming a new biotechnology research institute at the Park — which will provide modern laboratory space for research and partnerships with biotechnology companies — after Paul and Diane Manning
Paul Manning is a current member of the University’s Board of Visitors, and he has served on the U.Va. Health Foundation board and the Executive Committee for the “Honor the Future” Campaign, launched in 2019 to raise funds for the University’s pillars of education, democracy and research. He and his wife Diane Manning serve as directors of the Manning Family Foundation, which has contributed philanthropically to U.Va. Health Children’s Hospital and Virginia Athletics. The Mannings committed $100 million to the University in July 2022 to establish the Institute of Biotechnology, which will promote collaborative research aimed at finding new treatments and cures for challenging diseases.
The Committee also approved the concept, site and design guidelines for the Research Computing Data Center, a facility planned to be located within Fontaine Research Park and slated to provide research opportunities with supercomputing machines for the University.
The Buildings and Grounds Committee will convene again in June at the Board’s next meeting.
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