Guy Bailey Credit: Courtesy of University of Vermont
University of Vermont trustees voted Friday to remove former UVM president Guy Bailey’s name from the Bailey/Howe Library because of his ties to the Vermont eugenics movement of the 1920s and 1930s.

The new name will be the David W. Howe Memorial Library. Howe was a UVM alumnus and a publisher of the Burlington Free Press who died in 1969. A dedication plaque in the library says that Howe’s “lifelong interest in the progress of his newspaper, community, state and university helped stimulate others to greater achievements.”

The decision is subject to another vote Saturday by trustees, and is expected to pass.

University President Tom Sullivan praised the move, which was recommended by a campus Renaming Advisory Committee.

“The committee’s report is clear and well-reasoned,” Sullivan explained in a statement Friday. “It is a testament to the fair and deliberative process we have implemented to consider proposals to remove names from UVM facilities. I fully support the committee’s recommendation to remove the Bailey name from the library.”

Students protesting for racial justice pushed to strip Bailey’s name from the building last winter as part of a host of demands.

The Vermont Eugenics Survey ran from 1925 to 1936. It was founded and directed by UVM professor Henry Perkins, with fundraising and encouragement from Bailey when he was president.

“We reached our recommendation based primarily on the fact that Bailey’s active involvement as president of the University in supporting and promoting the Eugenics Survey of Vermont is fundamentally at odds with the University’s mission,” trustee and Renaming Committee chair Ron Lumbra said in a statement. “We also considered Bailey’s mismanagement of University financial resources.”

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Molly Walsh was a Seven Days staff writer 2015-20.

7 replies on “‘Howe’ Now: UVM Drops ‘Bailey’ From Library Name Over Eugenics Ties”

  3. Cowards !!! Bows to the whims of the liberals brats.. Lets see the White House?? Because it’s WHITE !! Next these brats from out of state will find fault with all of Vermont’s history, cause it doesn’t fit into their world. Just like when they changed the mascots name of So Burlington from Rebel to Wolves, because it offends someone. Like the name Indians because they say it offends Indians.. Sorry no it doesn’t. ..

  4. PBS had an educational documentary on recently about the eugenics movement
    https://www.pbs.org/video/the-eugenics-cru…
    I learned a lot from watching it. It was a mainstream movement supported by, among others, Theodore Roosevelt. It resulted in the United States shutting down immigration for 40 years. Perhaps this is a teachable moment at UVM. Not sure that’s how it’s being handled, though.

  7. The extremes to which unhinged liberals living in Vermont are going to rewrite history in an effort to create a false narrative that makes them feel better about themselves are at this point either tragic or laughable. I am on the side of tragic. I am actively looking to relocate. I’ve had enough of this BS.

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