Tuesday, April 19, 2016

[455] Forrest Hall task force to hold final meeting April 19 to decide recommendation on name


Decision will then go to MTSU president for consideration


The meeting of the 17-member task force will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the MT Center, located inside the Sam H. Ingram Building at 2269 Middle Tennessee Blvd. A searchable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap

The meeting is open to the public. Those planning to attend are reminded of the ongoing construction along Middle Tennessee Boulevard.

The university announced last summer that it would engage the community on the name of the campus building that houses MTSU’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program and is named after Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Tuesday’s meeting follows an April 14 meeting at the same location at which task force members deliberated about the issue. Prior to that, three previous meetings were held at which public input was received. There will be no public comment at Tuesday's meeting, which is strictly for task force deliberations to come to a decision.

The task force, which is made up of students, faculty, alumni and community representatives, is chaired by MTSU professor Derek Frisby, a Civil War historian and faculty member in the Global Studies and Cultural Geography department.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee asked the panel to recommend by this month whether the building should be renamed; retain the name but with added historical perspective; or recommend that no action or change is warranted. The Tennessee Board of Regents would have to approve any recommended name change and the Tennessee Historical Commission would have to give approval as well.


For more information about the task force, including a list of its members, visit http://www.mtsu.edu/forresthall

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