Students at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania are protesting against the name of “Lynch Memorial Hall” — named after former college president Clyde A. Lynch — because reminds them too much of the lynching of African Americans.
The building was given Lynch’s last name because he raised $550,000 to build it. According to Penn Live, however, the amount of money he raised just doesn’t matter compared to how triggering his last name happens to be.
Now, the students have clarified that having — trigger warning! — Lynch’s last name on the building would be okay as long as they included “Clyde A.” on it as well. I’d argue that maybe they should have some more important things to think about.
#share#After all, as the Washington Examiner’s Ashe Schow points out, the kids who can’t handle “Lynch Memorial Hall” on campus might be set to have a whole host of problems elsewhere in the world because there are more than 100,000 in the United States with the same last name. (Should Merrill Lynch have to change its name too, kids?)
Penn Live reports that the issue was raised at forum on campus equality on Friday that was intended to discuss how to eliminate “institutional injustices” from the school.
Lynch was the president of the college during the Great Depression, and his namesake hall was originally built as an athletic center. (It is now an academic building.)