Trinity's Berkeley Library to be named after Eavan Boland

Trinity decided that the safest course of action was preemptive action. They were probably correct in that an activist student cohort wouldn't have been long to take issue with this name.

I don't think it was preemptive, they were very much reacting to students protests and petitions

The article shows the thinking behind it. They were gleeful enough to have the name of a terror group sympathiser an promoter chalked above the doors. The published article belatedly following the decision to rename takes nothing from the point made.

In relation to Gaza. I cant imagine any Irish person being "happy" about civilians being killed. Seems a lot don't recall the reason Israel launched a ground invasion. A lot dont seem to grasp the basics of why it's happening. Why isn't Egypt letting them in? Why are the Lebanese not offering them refuge, or Iran?

And I didn't claim that Mrs what's her name was a nobody. I just said I didn't know who she was. Seems I'm not alone in that. It's not exactly a big deal not knowing who a poet was, especially if one is not into that sort of thing. To be honest, I'm surprised they chose a white Irish person.

So...No. You can't stand over what you said and instead try to claim I'm the derailing the thread.

The library should have retained its name because there was no good reason to change it imo. Keeping the name is not a nod or suggestion that slavery is OK. Its just an historical name the library has had for many years. A bunch of arts students weren't busy enough with their part time degrees, so had to find something else to cry about and make bad white man slogans with chalk and crayons. If you don't see the hypocrisy, you are wantonly blind.

Did you miss where I clearly said I don't think VW should change their name, or were you too busy arguing without considering what I actually said?

Feel free to check the definition in the Oxford dictionary.

Then ask honestly if it is, or is not hostile toward the Jewish state and people to:

1. Demand all ties are cut between said state and the college.
2. Idolise a supporter of a recognised terrorist group and approved of their massacre of Jews a year ago.

Are you sure of that? It certainly seems like a conscious effort to avoid any association with the colonial past, a past which Trinity has intrinsic links to

Which raises the whole issue of “whitewashing” aspects of unpalatable history.

I’ve no particular affection towards Berkeley but I’m uncertain about applying the mores and values of today upon someone from the 1600s with an entirely different cultural context. Were he even from the 1800s for example it would be more reasonable as ideas of abolitionism and anti slavery thought had become more developed and were much more present within the cultural milieu

Was he simply “of his time”?

Or is that irrelevant? Should something that is regarded an unforgivable sin today tarnish anyone who committed it, back until the beginning of humanity?

On a similar note I find it interesting that you quote Leviticus in your profile signature - the same book of the bible that refers to homosexuality as an abomination and calls for them to be killed.
Surely such rhetoric contained in Leviticus renders it unsuitable for remembrance or quotation today? In the same way that Berkeley’s slave holding means his name and words ought be erased from buildings and monuments etc?

If VW was called the Hitler Mobile then I think you'd see a lot of people asking for a rename.

There's a difference between being named after and just being associated with.

Oh I was defending slavery there was I?

Right so. Facile bad faith interpretations all round

As a quoter of Leviticus as if it is a source of apparent wisdom, you also think gay people are abominations that should be killed

Here here -starter for ten.

Most people I know who went to trinity were and will always be Berks!!!!

As Berkeley himself might say, if Trinity decide to change the name of a library and no one on Grafton St knows nor cares, does the library actually exist?

As for Eavan Boland. Why not? Prefer if it was Paula Meehan myself.

Slavery - Wikipedia

In the course of human history, slavery was a typical feature of civilization,[3] and was legal in most societies, but it is now outlawed in most countries of the world, except as a punishment for a crime.

Ironically, the last countries to outlaw slavery were in the Islamic world, and the last country to actually have punishments for slave masters is Mauritania, which only put in place punishments in 2007.

But hey, George Berkley was bad because … reasons.

That's exactly what they did though. The working group found that Berkeley contravened today's standards, not its standards at that time, which would be a much more interesting thing to look into.

"George Berkeley's enormous contribution to philosophical thought is not in question. However, it is also clear that he was both an owner of enslaved people and a theorist of slavery and racial discrimination, which is in clear conflict with Trinity's core values."

As hinted in the paragraph before the one quoted above, it sounds like they did a deal with the 'revolting students' who were blockading the old library and costing the college a fortune in lost revenue. It all comes down to money these days. If the concern is keeping the coffers full, then maybe they should just auction the naming rights every five years to a company like SuperValu or Heineken.

OTOH, if the aim was to "contextualise" Berkeley then that has failed miserably considering they have put TCD in exactly the same camp now as the US and UK universities which did profit directly from slavery.

https://www.tcd.ie/library/about/denaming.php