Frequently Asked Questions

The Committee on Naming and Recognition is a campus-based working group that was constituted by President Rosenbaum on July 22, 2020 for the purpose of delineating principles to guide current and future naming practices and make recommendations on specific actions the Institute should take regarding how it honors and memorializes significant historical figures. Members of the committee were selected to be representatives of and representatives for the Caltech community, with expertise across the fields of history, biology, genetics, biological ethics, psychology, physics, law, alumni relations, diversity and inclusion, and corporate governance.

President Rosenbaum established the Committee on Naming and Recognition as part of a multifaceted effort, outlined in a July 6 community message, to advance the Institute's commitment to make Caltech a destination of choice, today and into the future, for a diverse community of exceptional scholars.

The committee was convened following two petitions that garnered more than 1,000 signatures each, one by the Black Scientists of Engineers of Caltech and the second by a Caltech alumnus. Both called for the Institute to remove from all campus assets and honors of the names of past Institute leaders who had been associated with eugenics and the HBF; the BSEC petition pressed for additional interventions to bolster diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts on campus.

The Committee on Naming and Recognition (CNR) was asked to explore how the Institute honors and memorializes significant historical figures. Of specific concern were the Institute's memorializations of Robert A. Millikan, Harry Chandler, Ezra S. Gosney, William B. Munro, Henry M. Robinson, and Albert B. Ruddock, all because of their affiliation with eugenics and the Human Betterment Foundation. (The Human Betterment Foundation was a California-based organization that supported eugenic sterilization research and distributed propaganda in support of eugenic sterilization.) The memorialization of Thomas J. Watson Sr. was of concern because of his role at IBM, and IBM's ties to Nazi Germany.

The CNR was charged to conduct an historical evaluation of these individuals, taking into consideration how ethical standards may have changed over time. Its mandate involved (1) a delineation of general principles for current and future naming and (2) recommendations for specific actions, with special consideration of Caltech's ability to be a destination of choice, today and into the future, for a diverse community of exceptional scholars.

Yes. In December 2020, the Committee on Naming and Recognition delivered to President Rosenbaum a fully documented report that outlined its recommendations, as well as the reasoning behind them, for actions related to the Institute's naming and memorialization practice.

The full report is published online.

Yes. The Ruddock House Renaming Committee was convened to collect and review a list of suggested names for the student residence formerly called Ruddock House.

The committee's final recommendation was that the residence be called Venerable House, in honor of Grant D. Venerable, the first Black undergraduate student to graduate from Caltech.

Read the full report.

President Rosenbaum fully endorsed the committee's recommendations and presented them to the Caltech Board of Trustees. At a special meeting in January, the Trustees considered the material and authorized the Institute to implement the recommendations.

The Committee on Naming and Recognition was asked to explore the Institute's memorializations of:

• Robert A. Millikan
• Harry Chandler
• Ezra S. Gosney
• William B. Munro
• Henry M. Robinson
• Albert B. Ruddock
• Thomas J. Watson Sr.

The first six individuals were considered due to their connections to the Human Betterment Foundation, an organization that supported eugenic sterilization research and distributed propaganda arguing in favor of eugenic sterilization. Thomas J. Watson Sr. was considered because of his role at IBM, and in light of IBM's ties to Nazi Germany.

No additional renaming requests were brought to the committee.

The committee unanimously recommended to remove the names of all six historical figures affiliated with eugenics and the Human Betterment Foundation from buildings, assets, and honors memorializing them. The figures were Robert A. Millikan, Harry Chandler, Ezra S. Gosney, William B. Munro, Henry M. Robinson, and Albert B. Ruddock. The committee withheld judgment on renaming assets and honors memorializing Thomas J. Watson Sr., finding that the archival evidence did not present a clear case for removal.

Central to the committee's recommendation to revoke naming honors bestowed on these six individuals was also an explicit recommendation to engage in such a renaming practice only in exceptional circumstances and in a manner that recognizes and fosters greater awareness of the Institute's history.

Yes. In accord with recommendations from the Committee on Naming and Recognition and the Ruddock House Renaming Committee, the president and Board of Trustees have approved new names for campus assets and honors that previously memorialized individuals affiliated with the eugenics movement:

• Caltech Hall (formerly the Robert A. Millikan Memorial Library), as the most prominent building on campus, is named in honor of the Caltech community in its entirety. The name celebrates the generations of faculty, researchers, staff, students, and alumni who have shaped the Institute.
• The Judge Shirley Hufstedler Professorship (formerly the Robert A. Millikan Professorship) is named in honor of Hufstedler, who was the country's first secretary of education and a member of the Caltech Board of Trustees for 39 years. In her broader service to Caltech, she was an unwavering stalwart and advocate for affirmative action, encouraging the Institute to vigorously pursue its efforts to diversify the Caltech community by welcoming talented women. She helped to advise the Institute on child care, women's issues, student life, and ethics and public policy.
• The Edward B. Lewis Professorships of Biology (formerly the Albert Billings Ruddock Professorships of Biology) are named in honor of Lewis (PhD '46), an alumnus and late faculty member who dedicated his entire academic career to Caltech. Lewis's groundbreaking studies of how genes regulate the development of specific regions of the body earned him the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• Grant D. Venerable House (formerly Ruddock House) is named in honor of Venerable, the first Black student to graduate from Caltech. Venerable received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1932. Over his lifetime, he worked as a mining engineer, and he owned and operated a hotel and eraser manufacturing company.
• The Lee F. Browne Dining Hall (formerly the Harry Chandler Dining Hall) is named in honor of Browne, who served as Caltech's director of secondary school relations for two decades beginning in the 1970s. Browne helped improve graduation rates among underrepresented students at Caltech and is recognized for his work to develop successful outreach programs that encouraged students from underrepresented backgrounds to consider careers in science.

The Board previously authorized the renaming of the Linde + Robinson Laboratory as the Ronald and Maxine Linde Laboratory for Global Environmental Science.

The Robert A. & Greta B. Millikan Fellowship Endowment Fund and the William Bennett Munro Memorial Fund are based in the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, and the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, respectively, and do not require Board action to rename. Each division will implement a process to rename those assets in consultation with their faculty.

The Institute will work expeditiously to update campus signage and information sources to reflect the new building and asset names. We will keep the community updated on relevant developments in the process.

Updates and new developments regarding the process will be shared with the community through the website and the Ion Caltech newsletter. Questions and comments regarding the decision may be directed to naming@caltech.edu.

All of the committee's recommendations were unanimous.

The Committee on Naming and Recognition proceeded on the principles that removing names from assets and honors on campus should be enacted (1) only in exceptional circumstances, (2) when there is significant breach of Caltech's core commitments, (3) when there is a threat to Caltech's future, and (4) in a manner that recognizes the full complexity of Caltech's past.

The committee considered these principles to be consistent with the Naming Policy created in 2015 by what is now the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations as part of a suite of donor gift policies. Under this policy, "…the Institute reserves the right to revoke a naming if the donor's character or reputation for honesty, personal integrity, and personal and professional ethics is no longer consistent with the mission of the Institute," or "if the name will bring discredit to the Institute and/or is not consistent with the mission of the Institute."

Read the principles for naming and name removal in full.

In formulating the recommendations carried forward by President Rosenbaum and then affirmed by the Board, the committee: spoke with two members of the Caltech community about two petitions submitted by UCLA Professor and Caltech alumnus Michael Chwe and the Black Scientists and Engineers of Caltech (BSEC), respectively; sought expert advice from historians affiliated with Caltech, Yale University, and Harvard University; consulted extensive documentation on eugenics, the Human Betterment Foundation, and related individuals of concern; considered the Naming Policy Caltech adopted in 2015; and surveyed similar efforts by peer institutions. Importantly, the committee also invited the confidential and anonymous perspectives of Caltech staff, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, trustees, parents, and alumni, ultimately reviewing their more than 1,500 comments.

The Committee on Naming and Recognition (CNR) considered Caltech's existing Naming Policy, consulted with the authors of two petitions circulated among the community this summer, met with experts on the history of eugenics and the Human Betterment Foundation, consulted extensive documentation on these topics and on the individuals of concern, incorporated extensive input from the community, and surveyed similar efforts by peer institutions.

This recommendation follows extensive consideration of Millikan's participation in the eugenics movement as a late trustee of the Human Betterment Foundation; of Gosney as Human Betterment Foundation founder and president; and of Chandler, Munro, Robinson, and Ruddock as either HBF founding trustees or members. The CNR also considered evidence of Millikan's stances on gender, race, and ethnicity.

The decision to withhold judgment on Thomas J. Watson Sr. was informed by archival research and a report on the controversy surrounding Watson. A partial bibliography of reference materials and appendices of supporting documents are available in the report.

Yes. The committee reviewed and considered the arguments and perspectives represented by the petitioners and signatories. Moreover, as part of an effort to understand the broad sentiments of the Caltech community, the CNR invited all alumni, students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty, staff, parents, and trustees to separately submit, confidentially and anonymously, their thoughts on the naming and recognition matter.

The committee's complete report, including appendices of supporting documentation and materials and a bibliography of reference materials, is available online. The Institute also intends to continue to build its educational assets and resources to create easily accessible opportunities for the community and the public to learn about Caltech's past and connections between the Human Betterment Foundation and the figures who helped build the modern Caltech. Updates will be provided as they are available.

The Committee on Naming and Recognition met weekly between July 29 and December 17, 2020.

The Committee on Naming and Recognition (CNR) met weekly to consider the petitions presented, determine the historical facts involved, and decide the best course of action for Caltech regarding naming and recognition. Throughout its discussions, the CNR consistently returned to these core commitments: Caltech's mission, its values, its Honor Code, and its aspirations for the future. Caltech is committed to truth, to the pursuit of new knowledge, and to the application of this knowledge to solve society's most pressing problems. The Institute is also a community committed to welcoming exceptional scholars, students, and staff from all backgrounds.

The committee solicited feedback from members of the Caltech community via an online community input form and garnered 1,517 comments from staff, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, trustees, parents, and alumni. The form was designed for anonymous input, although some individuals chose to include their name and/or their affiliation with Caltech.

In aggregate, the community's feedback fell into three categories:

• approximately 45 percent supported name removal,
• approximately 37 percent opposed name removal, and
• approximately 18 percent reported no definitive opinion on name removal.

Individuals in favor of name removal expressed feelings of oppression and discrimination, and a general sense of not being able to belong to the Caltech community, or actively recruit others to join this community if racist views—including those of the past—are celebrated.

Individuals opposed to name removal expressed concerns that removing names of historical individuals, like Millikan who was instrumental to Caltech's founding, would be akin to trying to erase them from Caltech's history. There was also concern that the individuals would be judged out of context of their time or of their contributions to science or the Institute more broadly, and that the actions might create an unmanageable precedent to constantly rename honors and assets to match the times.

Members of the committee took seriously their responsibility to be representatives of the community, as well as their collective responsibility to serve the Institute and help position Caltech to be a destination of choice for current and future community members from all backgrounds and experiences.

In formulating the naming principles and name removal principles the committee sought to ensure that any actions taken in regard to namings or recognitions were done in a manner that respected the past and the full complexity of the Institute's history while also helping Caltech to realize a more diverse and inclusive future.