Principles and Procedures for Renaming Buildings and Other Features at Stanford University
Stanford University is committed to maintaining high standards of integrity and robust academic freedom, and to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all members of the Stanford community. With this in mind, Stanford will consider renaming features of the university, such as buildings, streets, monuments, endowed positions, and prizes, when there is strong evidence that retaining the name is inconsistent with the University’s integrity or is harmful to its research and teaching missions and inclusiveness.
In Winter 2018, members of the Advisory Committee on Renaming Principles presented recommendations for how Stanford should approach the process of reconsidering the name of a building or site, including the principles involved, the procedure to be followed and the factors to be considered. These recommendations were accepted by President Marc Tessier-Lavigne.
Read the Renaming PrinciplesRenaming of Jordan Hall and relocation of statue of Louis Agassiz
October 7, 2020
President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and the Board of Trustees approved a campus committee’s recommendation both to remove David Starr Jordan’s name from campus spaces and to take steps to make his multifaceted history as Stanford’s first president better known and understood. Stanford also will relocate a statue of Jordan’s mentor, Louis Agassiz.
- Stanford Report article
- Frequently asked questions
- Report of the committee
- Additional information on the committee
Renaming of Junipero Serra features on the Stanford campus
September 13, 2018
Stanford announced that Serra Mall and two campus buildings named for Junipero Serra, the founder of the California mission system, would be renamed, but other campus references to Serra and the mission system would be retained, based on a set of university committee recommendations accepted by the Board of Trustees.