MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- The Tennessee Board of Regents will consider a possible name change for a mid-state university building honoring a controversial Confederate General during a meeting scheduled for late June.
Forrest Hall at Middle Tennessee State University is named for General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest was a slave holder and founding member of the KKK.
MTSU President Sydney McPhee initiated a process to consider changing the Hall’s name last year. The move came after a self-described White Supremacist killed nine worshipers at a historically black church in South Carolina. McPhee announced in April that he would seek to have the name changed.
Before the change can be made McPhee must first seek permission from MTSU’s governing body. If the Board of Regents approve at their June 24 meeting, consideration of the name change then goes before the Tennessee Historical Commission for final approval.
Previously, the Commission could have approved the change with a simple majority vote. But earlier this year the Republican controlled Tennessee Legislature made removing Confederate iconography more difficult by changing commission rules to require a two-thirds majority.