Eastern’s Naming Committee held its first forum on the potential renaming of Douglas Hall Thursday afternoon. 

The forum was meant for staff to share their thoughts and opinions on whether the Naming Committee should recommend to rename the hall or retain the name.

Opinions shared in the forum showed staff members in favor of renaming and retaining, but a majority of those speaking were in favor of retaining the name.

The thoughts shared echoed those heard often regarding the potential name change.

During the meeting Ken Wetstein, ex-officio convener for the Naming Committee, emphasized that those who spoke up during the staff forum as well as the other upcoming forums should not be concerned about facing backlash or retaliation of any kind for sharing their opinions.

Sharing opinions was not the only thing on minds of those in the forum, however, some had questions about what would happen if the name was changed.

Wetstein explained that most naming at Eastern happens after a significant contribution to the university, whether it be philanthropic or with time and efforts.

The staff forum was the first of several forums to come.

Upcoming forums include:

• Eastern faculty only (March 23, 3 p.m.; contact Don Holly at [email protected] for log-in information) 

• Open student forum (March 23, 7 p.m.; Zoom Meeting ID: 919 6783 6019, Passcode EIU1895)

Open community forum (March 25, 7 p.m., Zoom Meeting ID: 943 8017 6654, Passcode: EIU1895)

Eastern students affiliated with the Black Student Union, the Latin American Student Organization, Alpha Psi Lambda, the National Pan-Hellenic Council and Eastern’s chapter of the NAACP (March 29, 4 p.m.; contact Mona Davenport at [email protected] for log-in information)

Eastern students affiliated with Eastern’s Student Government, the Interfraternity Council and PanHellenic Council (March 30, 4 p.m.; contact Davenport at [email protected] for log-in information)

Eastern Students affiliated with Eastern’s Residence Hall Association (April 1, 5 p.m.; contact Ken Wetstein [email protected] for the meeting log-in information)

Those who want to voice their opinions in the survey can do so by visiting go.eiu.edu/EIUDouglasHallSurvey.

The survey can only be done once on each device so it recommended once the survey is started that it be completed.

Corryn Brock can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].