Another Friday, Another Name For Calhoun

“Douglass College” became ​“William Pickens College” for a few minutes Friday, as local activists again rechristened the Yale residential college still officially known as Calhoun.

Pickens — a Yale grad whose parents were slaves and and who worked for the NAACP in the early 1900s — was the latest figure offered up as a replacement for Calhoun by local activists who have vowed to rally outside the college every Friday until Yale changes the name of the college.

On Friday morning, John Lugo, of the immigrant advocacy group Unidad Latina en Acción, placed a piece of duct tape bearing the name ​“William Pickens” on a sign outside the college gates. At previous rallies, Lugo has suggested other alternatives namesakes for the college, including Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X.

He was joined this Friday by a group of six other activists, who unfurled a banner saying ​“Yale: Change the Name” along the crosswalk at the corner of Elm and College streets every time the light turned red. Protesters said they plan to rally outside Calhoun every Friday until Yale meets their demands.

“I hope they change the name pretty soon,” Lugo said, ​“because I don’t like the cold weather.”

He has reason to be optimistic.

In April, Yale President Peter Salovey announced that the university would keep the Calhoun name, despite months of student-led protests calling for a change. But last week — taken aback by faculty outrage and still reeling from a weeks-long controversy over the forced resignation of an African American cafeteria worker in Calhoun—Salovey established a new university committee on renaming, effectively reopening the debate over Calhoun.

“The fact that they opened the committee shows we have some power in the community,” Lugo said. ​“That’s something that we thought was not gonna happen back in April.”

On Elm Street, drivers honked to show their support for the Calhoun protesters. One woman rolled down her window and said, ​“Yeah, I want to change it, too.”

After a while, Lt. William Holohan of the Yale Police Department walked by to check on the protesters.

“I think they’re gonna do that, they’re really gonna,” he said, pointing at the banner. ​“Did you see what the president of Yale put out last week? It seemed like he was backpedaling.”

Barbara Fair, a New Haven community activist, said the new committee represents a step in the right direction.

But, she added, the university should make more of an effort to involve community members in the naming discussion.

“They should meet the community, and say ​‘let’s talk about it,’” she said. ​“The people are gonna want to stay out here until it happens.”