When To Stop Honoring A Questionable Historical Figure? CU’s Had That Debate
Original article can be found at Ìý
Originally published on August 22, 2017 By Andrea DukakisÌý
It’s not just statues of Confederate leaders that lead to debates over controversial figures in U.S. history.Ìý
Buildings on college campuses across the country bear the names of men who were members of the Ku Klux Klan, were openly racist or, in Colorado’s case, participated in the killing of American Indians.Ìý
State Historian and 51³Ô¹ÏÍø history professor Patty Limerick tells Colorado Matters about a debate several decades ago over Nichols Hall, a college dorm on the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø campus.Ìý
David Nichols was a 51³Ô¹ÏÍø County Sheriff, and later Speaker of the House in Colorado’s Territorial Legislature, who was credited with getting matching funds to build the university. But Nichols also participated in the where at least 150 American Indians — mostly women and children — were slaughtered. Gov. John Hickenlooper for the massacre in 2014.Ìý
The dorm, named after Nichols in 1961, led to protests in the 1980’s wher