Featured photo via Sidelines Archives
Story by Noah McLane
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The Forrest Hall saga was set to continue today with public comment and a hearing on Middle Tennessee State University’s most recent bid to change the building’s namesake. The hearing was tabled yet again.
Students who made the trek to Nashville to speak were disappointed.
“I think it’s unfortunate,” said Dutsch Dorman, co-chair of MTSU’s Young Democratic Socialists of America. “We had quite a few members today prepared to speak and to voice not only their own opinions but the opinions of the student body.”
Student body President Michai Moseby and university President Sydney A. McPhee were both set to speak as well.
Also set to give public comment was the Tennessee Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, spoken for by Edward Phillips.
When asked to comment on the decision to delay the hearing, Phillips instead talked about the fact that he had a black professor who was a Tuskegee Airman.
Forrest Hall, which is used by MTSU’s Army Recruiting Officers Training Course, is named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, the slave trader turned confederate Brigadier General and alleged founding member and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
The hearing has been pushed back to June 21, 2024 because at least one member of the historical commission had to leave the 9 o’clock meeting at 11:30 a.m., despite today’s meeting having been on the books since March.
For information, check out Sidelines’ past coverage.
Noah McLane is a contributing writer for MTSU Sidelines.
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