Winthrop trustees to SC lawmakers: Let college drop racist Tillman name from building
The Winthrop University Board of Trustees is expected to discuss Friday a resolution asking South Carolina lawmakers to change the name of its signature building that honors an avowed racist and segregationist.
Tillman Hall, one of the main buildings on the Rock Hill campus, is named For Benjamin “Pitchfork” Tillman, a college founder who was a white supremacist involved in the lynchings of blacks.
An item for Friday’s board meeting includes a resolution condemning racism and other forms of injustice, according to a public agenda for the public meeting of the public college.
Glenn McCall, chairman of the board of trustees, told The Herald Thursday the resolution would ask the South Carolina legislature for permission to change the name of Tillman Hall.
McCall said he expects the board to vote on the resolution after it discusses the issue at Friday’s board meeting.
“The board would have to vote on it, and the board will have the chance to voice whatever concerns or opinions each person has,” McCall said.
McCall, who is African-American, said he likely will address his stance on the name change at Friday’s meeting.
Kathy Bigham, vice-chair of the board of trustees, said Thursday she expects the Tillman building name will be discussed at Friday’s meeting.
The full board meets Friday at 2 p.m. in the Richardson Ballroom at the DiGiorgio Center. The meeting is open to the public and also will have virtual attendance online for the public, school officials said.
Under the S.C. law called the Heritage Act, only the General Assembly has the authority to change the names of public buildings.
Winthrop students, alumni and professors have pushed for decades to have Tillman’s name taken from the building. Thousands of Winthrop students have signed a new petition to change the name in the wake of protests around the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and other African-Americans.
Several Winthrop professors have also sent letters to the board of trustees and college administrators, asking that the name be changed.
Winthrop professor John Holder, a fourth-generation Winthrop employee whose grandfather was a Winthrop trustee who voted to change the name to Tillman in 1962, wrote a letter to the trustees stating that the building name should be changed.
Holder’s letter about Benjamin Tillman and the building posted on Facebook states:
“A vicious, racist murderer is unworthy of our honor. That would be the case on its merits; it is even more compelling given that Winthrop’s contemporary student body is now populated by large numbers of the very people Tillman sought – often violently – to exclude from education and from basic human rights.
“I ask that the Board follow the example set by your colleagues at Clemson, and that you request that the General Assembly grant you the authority to rename our administration building. It was known as “Main Building” or “Old Main” for 67 years, more than half the time that the building has existed. That name was appropriate then, and would be appropriate now. It would also be in order to consider commemorating Winthrop’s history as a women’s institution and a teacher’s college by naming it for one of the prominent female educators who learned their profession here.”
Former York mayor and long-time Winthrop history professor Eddie Lee posted on Facebook that he’s dealt with the Tillman name for a decade in his Welcome to Winthrop lectures to new staff. Lee writes Tillman was “a racist, misogynist, and sowed seeds of social class division.” He also notes Winthrop would not exist in Rock Hill as it does today.
“History has many jagged, bloody edges and evil people,” Lee posted. “If we study them, we can learn valuable lessons about our painful past and make today’s world better.”
Benjamin Tillman was a South Carolina governor and U.S. senator who was part of the founding of Winthrop.
Yet Tillman described as a “white supremacist, architect of state Jim Crow laws, and a violent advocate of lynch law,” according to Winthrop’s Web site.
South Carolina Rep. John King, D-Rock Hill, said he supports changing the name and wants the Heritage Act repealed.
S.C. Sen. Greg Gregory, R-Lancaster, said in a conversation about the Heritage Act on Wednesday he would support giving some local control to municipalities or schools that may want to change monuments or building names. Gregory specifically mentioned Tillman. Gregory said he would vote to remove a Tillman statue from statehouse grounds and his name from university buildings.
School officials are also seeking to remove Tillman’s name from a building at Clemson University.
“I don’t know anything redeeming about Ben Tillman,” Gregory said.
Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, who is a lawyer, said Winthrop should be allowed to change the name. Rutherford said the Heritage Act is unconstitutional.
However, leaders in the General Assembly have not acted on bringing the issue to a vote or allowing names to be changed.
Several years ago, Winthrop changed the name of one of its highest student achievement awards from the Tillman Award to the President’s Award.
