Despite a request from the Residence Halls Association to name the newest residence hall after black journalist Lucile Bluford, the UM System Board of Curators has not moved on the issue.
Last year, RHA representatives voted on the name and sent their proposal to the board for consideration. However, the proposal was suddenly removed from the curators’ agenda in July and has not seen progress since.
UM System spokesman John Fougere attributed the delay to recent vacancies on the board.
“While there is no timetable for the board to take this issue up at this time, it remains under consideration,” Fougere said in an email. “As you know, the board has a variety of issues to address during the course of the year, and would prefer that the board’s three new board members, plus the two additional members that still need to be appointed, would have the opportunity to listen to input, get up to speed and discuss any issue (including this one) before taking an informed vote.”
Bluford, a Kansas City native, was denied admission at MU 11 times because of her race. She went on to become a prominent civil rights activist and editor at the Kansas City Call for 70 years, [according to previous Maneater reporting](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2016/11/15/new-residence-hall-will-be-first-named-after-black/).
Bluford sued MU in 1939 for denying her admission, and she ultimately won in the Missouri Supreme Court. 50 years later, the university apologized and conferred an honorary doctorate degree in humanities.
If Bluford’s name is approved, the new hall would be the first residence hall on campus to be named after a black woman. It is scheduled to open in August 2017.
Some MU students took it upon themselves to contact the Board of Curators to try to move the naming process forward.
“We pretty much just blew up their phone. We left over 100 messages,” MU freshman Catherine Hoffman said.
[According to an online invitation](https://allevents.in/columbia/call-the-curators-day-lucile-bluford-residence-hall/1305771446202528), “Call the Curators Day” was held in the Women’s Center last Friday. During this event, students gathered to leave voicemails on curators’ phones in an effort to convince them to recognize Bluford and approve RHA’s proposal.
Hoffman said she and her friends were inspired by Bluford’s story and that the lack of filled curator spots was not a good enough reason for the delay.
“I think that representation means a lot,” Hoffman said. “This university denied [Bluford] 11 times, and while they did go back and give her that honorary degree, I think that naming this building after her would be a great extra step. I don’t think there’s a need for the university at this point to be embarrassed and shove it under the rug.”
MU sophomore Jasmin Hampton blamed the region’s discriminatory past for the stall, noting that the university did not admit African-American students until 1950.
“I don’t know, it’s Missouri,” Hampton said. “I just feel like where we are and the political climate definitely plays a part in the reasons why they’re stalling.”
Fougere said the board appreciates students’ input and is “examining its options.”
The board does not necessarily have to approve any name before the new residence hall opens next fall. Former RHA president Matt Bourke [told the Missourian](http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/higher_education/request-to-name-new-mu-residence-hall-after-lucile-bluford/article_73564f9e-26e8-11e7-b66d-f3ae862908e8.html) that the hall may be nameless until donors buy it, similar to North, South, Center and College Avenue residence halls, which are all technically temporary names.
_Edited by Katherine Stevenson | kstevenson@themaneater.com_
