Trinity College to look at renaming library called after 'racist' slave-owner

The Berkeley Library at Trinity College, Dublin. File picture: Trinity College Dublin/PA Wire

A group set up to look at the potential renaming of a Trinity College library because of the name’s links to slavery warned it was likely to cause “reputational impact”.

The working group had been established to examine the title of the Berkeley Library, named after George Berkeley, who supported slavery, was racist, and called the Irish poor “a lazy destitute race” who were more “abject” even than slaves.

Minutes of the group’s first meeting detail discussion over how widespread the public campaign around the name should be and how this could cause “reputational impact that might affect the current philanthropic campaigns of the library”.

The minutes said: “It was recognised by the working group that reputational impact was likely to occur, but it was felt that the size of the campaign would not overly affect this, and there was consensus that a larger media campaign would be more suitable for this circumstance.” 

The group also said any discussion of the Berkeley Library needed to consider his name’s link to other parts of the university, including academic medals for outstanding students.

They asked if his “legacy” would be removed in its entirety or whether some elements would be kept using a “retain and explain” model.

The group also questioned whether some bequests made by Mr Berkeley to the college had specific conditions attached to them surrounding his name.

The minutes said: “The Berkeley Window and Medals were highlighted as specific examples; however, it was subsequently noted that the Berkeley Window [a stained glass window in Trinity’s chapel] holds no such requirement.” 

The working group also said it would be better if submissions on the naming issue were “evidence-based” but said other feedback was likely as well.

Three early submissions to the consultation were divided on whether the library should be renamed.

One said: “Berkeley is in many ways the product of his time. Should all slave owners’ achievements be erased from history?

“Would that include Thomas Jefferson, who owned 600? Would it include the creators of the Egyptian Pyramids or the art of the Roman Empire?” 

Another said: “I propose it be renamed ‘The Library Formerly Known as The Berkeley’. This is modelled after the German education system in which they draw attention to their past atrocities.

“This will encourage a dialogue among future students as to the merits of the renaming and is a name I suspect many will find amenable—making amends without trying to hide.” 

One said the damage done by slavery needed to be addressed, writing: “Whatever the social norms of Mr Berkeley's era, at no point in our history was it ever correct — philosophically or otherwise — to regard a human being as property."

Asked about the records, a spokeswoman for Trinity College said: “This is a process that's under way and that needs to take its course.”