Honoring Trailblazers at Tulane

May 3, 2023

Dear Tulane Community:
 
Last semester, the Presidential Commission on Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion reached out to all members of the Tulane community to solicit nominations of individuals who could be honored through the naming of spaces within Hébert Hall. This effort is part of the Tulane Trailblazers program which provides recognition of the contributions of numerous individuals from underrepresented communities who have played prominent roles in Tulane’s history.

Today, we are pleased to announce that spaces within this building will be named for Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, renowned historian, and the Desegregation Trailblazers, the first students who integrated Tulane in 1963. These honorees were recommended by the Committee on Campus Recognition.

Dr. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall was an expert in colonial-era Louisiana and a civil rights activist who attended Newcomb College. She had a long career and received much acclaim for her work that revolutionized the understanding of slavery in Louisiana by identifying 107,000 enslaved African people.
 
The Desegregation Trailblazers are honored as the first African American students to enroll at Tulane in January of 1963 after the decision to desegregate Tulane was made in the fall of 1962. Most of these students enrolled at the graduate level and took courses in a variety of departments and schools. They opened the door for greater equality and inclusivity.

Individuals who integrated Tulane in 1963

Signage will be unveiled in the building in the coming months highlighting the important work of all of these Trailblazers.
 
The naming of spaces within the building will be followed by the addition of context regarding the history of the building’s naming. This contextualization will be featured both within the hall and at the F. Edward Hébert Center in Belle Chasse.
 
As you may remember, the Building Naming Task Force, which was made up of students, faculty, staff and alumni, was charged in 2020 with developing community-wide principles to inform decisions in naming or renaming Tulane buildings and prominent spaces. Once developed, the Task Force was also charged with utilizing those principles to provide a recommendation regarding the name of Hébert Hall.  

The Task Force conducted research regarding Hébert’s life and legacy. Members of the Task Force found that Hébert’s beliefs, actions and values as a staunch segregationist were fundamentally inconsistent with the values of Tulane University both today and at the time of the naming in 1979. As such, the Task Force recommended the removal of Hébert’s name from this building. University leadership concurred with the Task Force’s recommendation.
 
In 2021, the Board of Tulane authorized negotiations to remove the Hébert name, but those negotiations were not successful and concluded in summer 2022. Therefore, the university administration followed the secondary recommendation of the Task Force, which was contextualization.
 
Today, we urge your participation in what you think this contextualization should include. To submit comments or thoughts, please email redicommission@tulane.edu.

Any university that aspires to true greatness must be built on the foundation of equity, diversity, compassion, respect and opportunity for students, faculty and staff from all backgrounds.
 

Sincerely,

Michael A. Fitts
President

Robin Forman
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
 
Michael Cunningham
Associate Provost for Graduate Studies and Research
Co-Chair, President’s Commission on Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
 
Kelly Grant
Senior Associate Dean of Student Success and Strategic Initiatives, Newcomb-Tulane College
Co-Chair, President’s Commission on Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
 
Anneliese Singh
Associate Provost for Diversity & Faculty Development and Chief Diversity Officer
Co-Chair, President’s Commission on Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
 
Jonathan Small
Vice President, Office of Human Resources & Institutional Equity
Co-Chair, President’s Commission on Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion