Teachers College, Columbia University Removes E. L. Thorndike’s Name from Building

Teachers College Main Building. From The Southeast; Small Boy And Girl In Foreground (1894). Gottesman Libraries at Teachers College, Columbia University. Image Source

The Board of Trustees of Teachers College, Columbia University have voted to remove psychologist E. L. Thorndike’s name from a campus building, nearly half a century after its dedication. The unanimous decision follows a 2018 report produced by a group of students at the school, which documented Thorndike’s racism and support for eugenics and and called for the renaming of Thorndike Hall. Read the full announcement here.

About Jacy Young

Jacy Young is a professor at Quest University Canada. A critical feminist psychologist and historian of psychology, she is committed to critical pedagogy and public engagement with feminist psychology and the history of the discipline.