Memorial Hall, Vanderbilt University

Memorial Hall
Confederate Memorial Hall
Memorial Hall in 2007 (then known as Confederate Memorial Hall)
General information
Town or city	Nashville
Country	United States
Completed	1935
Owner	Vanderbilt University

Memorial Hall (formerly known as Confederate Memorial Hall) is a historic building on the Peabody College campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Built in 1935 as a dormitory hall for female descendants of veterans of the Confederate States Army, its name has resulted in multiple lawsuits and student unrest. In August 2016, the university announced it would remove the word Confederate from the building and reimburse the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

The construction of Confederate Memorial Hall was supported by a US$50,000 donation from the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1933. The total cost of construction was $140,000.Edith D. Pope, the second editor of the Confederate Veteran, played a key role in its construction; Pope and other members of the UDC also made sure the college would teach a course on Southern history.

The building was completed in 1935. It was used as a residential building, where female students who descended from Confederate veterans and intended to study for a teaching career were selected by the UDC to live free of charge.

The building was acquired by Vanderbilt University when it acquired Peabody College in 1979. By 1988, students held protests on campus, suggesting the name was offensive to black students. As a result, the university added a memorial plaque near the building to contextualize the origin of the name.

When Gordon Gee became Chancellor in 2002, he tried to change the name of the building. However, the United Daughters of the Confederacy sued the university in the Davidson County Chancery Court. The case went to the Tennessee Supreme Court, and Judge William C. Koch, Jr. sided with the UDC. By 2005, Judge William B. Cain of the Tennessee Court of Appeals concluded that the word Confederate was not about slavery, but about the fallen soldiers of the Confederate States Army, who defended their land against Northern invaders. When he suggested Vanderbilt University would have to repay the US$50,000 donation adjusted to inflation, the university dropped the lawsuit. However, the university used the name "Memorial Hall" in their publications.