Vandy loses Confederate battle

Mike Madison of Pitt has a report in his Madisonian Theory blog on Vanderbilt University’s loss in the Confederate Hall case.  In that case, which we reported on previously, Vanderbilt was seeking permission to change the name of the building, which had been donated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, on grounds that “Confederate” was now something of an embarrassment, particularly in recruiting.  Madison has a link to the opinion.

He also raises the interesting question whether, since the Tennessee Court of Appeals said that the name must be kept as long as the building stands, Vandy could knock it down and build something new there.  [Ed. note: One possible response would be that knocking a perfectly good building down for the sole purpose of escaping its promise might be bad faith.]