UPenn Renames Building, Dissing Dead White Guy
Posted on July 7, 2008
Filed Under Media, Reading List | By Ester Bloom
Page Six scored a recent victory against forgotten Quaker James Logan. The prominent Penn Arts & Sciences building originally named for Logan will henceforth be called “Claudia Cohen Hall,” after the former gossip column editor and ex-wife of quadrillionaire Ron Perelman who died of cancer last year.
Perelman purchased the honor for $20 million, although he should have spent more on fanfare: the school essentially switched the signs in the middle of the night. Perhaps it is less than thrilled to be pissing on the grave of the scholarly, if dull, Governor of PA, and commemorating an alum who, according to her NYT obit, “was known for her aggressive pursuit of celebrity news and her ability to handicap the Academy Awards.”
Profs and students are righteously indignant:
“I, as an academic, am accustomed to seeing buildings with names like Newton, Copernicus, Darwin,” said Ponzy Lu, a chemistry professor at the university. “Then to see the name of this person, who is very fresh in our memory, who is not associated with a pursuit of knowledge — a gossip columnist: it strikes me as being totally idiotic.”
(Source: The New York Times)
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[…] His company, Broadcom, was involved in a stock-option scandal, which he first denied, then admitted to being involved in. Unsurprisingly UCLA’s chancellor is still calling Samueli a friend and a valued member of the Bruin family, despite his SEC troubles. The University of California is currently reviewing the case. It appears that the UC Board has a tough decision to make: risk alienating a donor, or nonchalantly turn a blind eye to what’s probably a harmless corporate boo-boo. Seeing as how UCI and UCLA are arguably two of the most technically cutting-edge UCs, it may be detrimental to their rep to shun a big name. Plus having to physically change the name is such a bother. […]