King's Announces Formal Process to Retire and Change House Namesakes

Screenshot from King’s’ official announcement

King’s announced the promised, formal process in which House members can choose to retire and change a house namesake if they choose. Dean Leedy made the long-awaited announcement in an email sent out to the King’s community on Monday, March 1. 

The Student Body President, King’s Council, Alumni Executive Committee and President’s Cabinet participated in the development of the process which will go into effect in the fall 2021 semester.

“The goal of such a change would be to learn from other historical figures who constructively engaged with the Christian or classical traditions,” Leedy said in an email to the student body.

For a house namesake change, the process requires an application which must include the rationale for the change, approval from the President’s Cabinet for the procedure to move forward, two-thirds house vote in favor of the change and 25 percent of contactable alumni participation with 51 percent of those participating voting in favor of the change.

Last summer, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the national unrest it caused, President Gibson released a statement on The King’s College's Instagram account. Several members of the King’s community responded to the post and called upon the college to “Remove the namesake.”

“The conversation is not over,” King’s replied in the comments. “He [Gibson] is listening. The College is listening. We are creating a process by which house namesakes may change, including the Reagan namesake.”

On Monday, that process became official and will go into effect next semester. Alumni of the college were also informed via email of the new process.

For more details regarding the House namesake process and to read the full procedures, click here.