Submit a Proposal

Any member of the University community (students, faculty, staff, and alumni) may initiate a review of a building’s name by submitting a written proposal. Please use the information on this page as a guide in making your case for the removal of a building name on the Berkeley campus. Final submissions and any supporting documents should be sent to building-name-review@berkeley.edu

By making a submission:

  • You are asking the Building Name Review Committee of the University of California, Berkeley, to consider whether to remove the name of a specific building on campus. If the committee agrees, it will recommend to the chancellor that the name be removed. If the chancellor agrees, the chancellor will recommend its removal to the University President. In the case of buildings named in recognition of philanthropic gifts, the President decides whether to forward the recommendation to the California Attorney General, who makes the final decision.
  • You agree that this proposal will be posted on this website so that campus community members may view this proposal and respond. (The contact information in the first question will be redacted.)

Proposals should address all of the following requirements:

The proposal should frame its argument consistent with the Building Name Review Committee’s stated principles. If an individual’s life is consistent with some of these principles and inconsistent with others, the proposal must make a case for why some principles outweigh others. For example, the named individual may have provided extensive service to the University, conducted important research, or made other contributions. However, this same individual may have acted to harm members of various groups. The proposal should explain why pernicious effects outweigh the contributions.

The proposal must make a compelling case for the removal of a building name by providing evidence, documenting the sources used, and explaining why those sources are reliable. The proposal may provide links to videos or other relevant online material prepared by the proposer.

Proposals should explicitly include:

  1. Proposer's name and affiliation with UC Berkeley, or the name of your group and its affiliation. Please include contact information for yourself or one member of your group (phone and e-mail address), which will not be posted online.
  2. What building name do you propose removing?
  3. Why was the building named after this person? Was the name honorific or in recognition of a philanthropic gift (donation)?
  4. What service, if any, did this person perform for the University?
  5. What is the history of contesting the legacy of the building’s namesake, if any? From the time the building was named up until the present, have individuals or groups objected to using this name?
  6. Why do you believe that the legacy of the namesake is fundamentally at odds with the principles guiding the campus today. That is, explain why you believe that the legacy’s pernicious effects outweigh the individual’s contributions. 
  7. What is the likely impact on members of the University community if the name is retained or removed?
  8. Please add any other relevant information or arguments.

Note: Before submitting a formal proposal, an individual or group may fill out this Google Form to announce their intention to submit a proposal, but this is not obligatory. The purpose of announcing the intention to file a proposal is to facilitate the possible coordination of more than one group with the same goal. 

Haas School of Business

Questions should be sent to:

building-name-review@berkeley.edu