Just as I predicted:
MTSU task force recommends Forrest Hall name change
Brian Wilson,
bwilson@dnj.com7:40 a.m. CDT April 20, 2016
MURFREESBORO — A Middle Tennessee State University task force recommended on Tuesday evening that the name of Forrest Hall, the ROTC building on campus, be changed.
That recommendation did not include the discussion of alternative names for the building currently dedicated for controversial Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest.
MTSU President Sidney McPhee is expected to make a recommendation by the end of April on whether the university should formally call for a change for the building, said Andrew Oppmann, university vice president for marketing and communications.
Liles criticized the tone and language of those who supported a name change during the six months the committee met and told the task force he did not want to "reward bad behavior" with his position.
"It is disappointing to see my alma mater devolve into civility such as this," Liles said.
Brandon Woodruff, a senior who has repeatedly called for a name change, said he believed students were not disrespectful during the recommendation process.
State Sen. Bill Ketron, a task force member, also said during the a task force meeting last week that he supported keeping the name.
Rutherford County Property Assessor Rob Mitchell, who supported keeping the name, said it was unfortunate the recommendation got to that point.
"The building's going to be torn down anyway," Mitchell said.
The Forrest Hall Task Force made their decision after three public forums where supporters and critics of the controversial Confederate general spoke to the panel.
While critics have questioned Forrest's role as a leader in the Ku Klux Klan and how his troops handled the Fort Pillow massacre in West Tennessee, supporters call the Confederate general a brilliant military mind who denounced the KKK before his death.
After the shooting at a black church in Charleston, S.C. in June 2015, McPhee organized the task force to recommend whether to rename the building dedicated for Forrest in 1958.