Phil Mullen, who in 2020 was appointed the university’s first associate professor of Black studies, is among those welcoming the name change. Berkeley, she said, should not be excused as merely reflecting the views of his time.
“A lot of other individuals openly opposed slavery then,” Dr. Mullen said. “Berkeley was not an innocent in this way. There were other people who visited him — Quakers, Moravians, Jews — who felt differently about slavery, and who would have argued with Berkeley about his position.”
Instead, Dr. Mullen said, it was clear that he had been a willing practitioner of slavery who baptized his slaves not only for the sake of their souls but, as he wrote in 1725, because he believed it would make them more obedient to their masters.
The college’s legacy group said that it had received 93 submissions from students, staff members and the public about the library name. A slim majority, 47, supported changing it, 16 called for retaining it, and the others staked a middle ground.
Most of those who supported keeping the name argued that Berkeley’s views reflected his time, or that it would be wrong to remove the name of one Ireland’s greatest thinkers.
David McConnell, a former vice provost of the college, argued for the retain and explain approach.
“Berkeley draws attention to him because he was a very great scholar, and it’s important that people know about him and, in the case of the students today, maybe be inspired by him,” Professor McConnell said. “If the name isn’t up there on the library, he will fade away and be known only to people who study philosophy.”
The chairman of the group that recommended renaming the library, Prof. Eoin O’Sullivan, said its work had been influenced by other universities facing similar issues.