{"id":8644,"date":"2020-02-12T15:28:29","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T15:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2020\/02\/20\/university-to-rededicate-furman-hall-unveil-new-plaque\/"},"modified":"2022-09-07T15:31:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T19:31:59","slug":"university-to-rededicate-furman-hall-unveil-new-plaque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/university-to-rededicate-furman-hall-unveil-new-plaque\/","title":{"rendered":"POSTPONED: University to rededicate Furman Hall, unveil new plaque"},"content":{"rendered":"

UPDATE:<\/strong> Today\u2019s Furman Hall rededication and plaque unveiling ceremony has been\u00a0postponed\u00a0due to inclement weather. We will update the campus community as soon as this event has been rescheduled. We look forward to holding the event at a date and time that will allow for greater attendance to celebrate and honor this significant moment in our history.<\/p>\n

The plaque will acknowledge that while James C. Furman, the university\u2019s first president and the son of its namesake, worked to build and save the university in difficult times following the Civil War, he was also a vocal proponent of slavery and secession.<\/p>\n

The building\u2019s new name, which removes \u201cJames C.,\u201d was unanimously approved by the Furman University Board of Trustees this past May, based on one of the recommendations from the \u201cSeeking Abraham\u201d<\/a> report. The name and plaque honor the entire Furman family, celebrating and noting \u201cthe diverse community of students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends who study, work and gather\u201d on the campus.<\/p>\n

Speakers at the event will include President Elizabeth Davis, Board Chair Alec Taylor ’75, Chief Diversity Officer Michael Jennings and Distinguished University Public Historian and Scholar Courtney Tollison \u201999. Students, faculty, staff and members of the community are invited to attend.<\/p>\n

\u201cChanging the name of one of our signature buildings is an important step toward including and recognizing the entire Furman family and all who have contributed to the history and success of our great university,\u201d President Davis said. \u201cI hope everyone will join us as we mark this special day in Furman history.\u201d<\/p>\n

The name change was one of many recommendations<\/a> of the Task Force on Slavery and Justice and the Board’s Special Committee. Trustees also approved changing the name of Lakeside Housing to the Clark Murphy Housing Complex. A plaque describing that name change, for a beloved long-time custodian at Greenville Woman\u2019s College, which later merged with Furman, is being installed at the front entrance of Judson Hall.<\/p>\n

At the Furman Hall rededication, Alex Sealey \u201921, one of Tollison\u2019s students, will describe a project she is leading that will further illustrate inside Judson Hall the contributions made by Murphy and others.<\/p>\n

Last month, hundreds of people gathered in front of the James B. Duke Library and walked to Daniel Memorial Chapel to celebrate Joseph Vaughn Day<\/a>, another Seeking Abraham recommendation, in honor of the university\u2019s first African American student. The university is commissioning a sculpture of Vaughn and plans to break ground later this year on a place of reflection and celebration, where the statue will be placed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATE: Today\u2019s Furman Hall rededication and plaque unveiling ceremony has been\u00a0postponed\u00a0due to inclement weather. We will update the campus community as soon as this event has been rescheduled. We look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":389,"featured_media":8622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,70,42,7],"tags":[234,235,236,228,229,237,238],"class_list":["post-8644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-diversity-equity-and-inclusion","category-history","category-top-four-news-2nd-story","tag-furman-hall","tag-james-c-furman","tag-joe-vaughn","tag-joseph-vaughn","tag-joseph-vaughn-day","tag-seeking-abraham","tag-task-force-on-slavery-and-justice"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}