Trinity College Dublin’s main library has been known as the Berkeley Library, after philosopher George Berkeley, since its opening in 1967, but its name will now change, owing to Berkeley’s ownership of slaves and his writing of a pamphlet suggesting slaves would be more obedient if baptised. Reuters reports:The college said in a statement it will retain a stained-glass window commemorating the philosopher, whose name was given to the Berkeley Library and to the U.S. city of Berkeley, in what it said was a “nuanced approach” to criticism of one of its most famous scholars. The Irish Times reports:Trinity College Dublin said it would “dename the Berkeley Library while adopting a retain-and-explain approach to a stained-glass window commemorating George Berkeley. Portraits depicting Berkeley will be assessed in the future by a new overall College policy on artwork, while the academic Gold Medals memorialising Berkeley will be reviewed by the relevant academic department.”A new name for the library has not been decided upon. Berkeley has also been controversial at Yale, where a college is named after him.

Source: The Irish Times April 28, 2023 01:50 UTC