Following the announcement of the former Berkeley Library being renamed Eavan Boland Library, The University Times spoke with several students about their reactions to the library’s new name.
Maria Rymaszewska, first year Physical Sciences student
For Maria Rymaszewska the lack of women’s names on Trinity’s building “goes against Trinity’s ethos of just generally being equal and inclusive”. Rymaszewska further added that they “thought there would have been a bigger gender balance between names overall so I think it’s a good step in the right direction. I’m really happy with the new name, I think it ties in well with the theme of literature as she was a poet as well.”
When asked about what they thought of the initial denaming of the Library, Rymaszewka stated “Of course if there’s a poor history behind the person and if that’s offensive to a lot of people, of course that will be the right move to just take it to a better person. But then obviously not everyone is perfect. So it is a really nuanced topic, and genuinely should be taken on a case by case basis.”
Rymaszewka also stated that they spent time looking at the list of names that numbered over 850 submissions from the public. “I was looking at the suggestions. A lot of them were quite jokey which upset me a bit.” They further added, “The comments under the people who suggested to just keep it the old name were not the nicest to read.”
It is worth noting that George Berkeley was recommended as a name by 35 members of the public. Some of the more surprising submissions that were made to the list included the “Andrew John Hozier-Byrne”, “Jesus Christ”, and the “Woke Mc Woke Face” library.
Saskia McDonogh Mooney, second year student
Saskia McDonogh Mooney stated her excitement over the renaming saying it “just so cool” particularly as, “they spent so long trying to decide that I kind of assumed that it would be bad”. Her excitement over the name comes with a sense of upset and disappointment in the college that The Eavan Boland Library will be the first building at Trinity named after a woman.
On the subject of renaming, McDonogh Mooney shared “I think it’s very important. I think it shows a level of progressiveness which is really important on college campuses because they’re places of growth, change, and learning. And so I think that renaming, especially when it’s warranted, can show the growth of the college and say what college is about.”
Jenny Maguire Trinity College Dublin Student Union President
Fresh out of the Board meeting which decided the decision, TCDSU President Jenny Maguire told The University Times her thoughts on the decision. “I think it’s a fantastic move. Of course, this has come out of years of grassroots activism and then started off as a petition that the Union then supported, and then the Union denamed it in our correspondence to the X Library. And it’s great to see college come on board with this and recognize that having a building named after a slave owner is not a neutral stance, and it is an active harm to welfare of all of our students.”
When Maguire was asked about the denaming of buildings in general, she stated “I think it’s important. The world is very different than how it was 50 years ago, 100 years ago, 200 years ago. That is not a sacred, untouchable thing. It should be something that is consistently in conversation with, if people if 50 years ago wanted to rename it again and again, I don’t see why not. I think it’s important that this college all who work and live within it. And so I’m delighted to see the name changed and finally a building named after a woman.”
As an English student, she is even happier about the decision, stating“I think it’s fantastic. Her contributions to poetry are fantastic as an English Studies student. And for educators and professors in Trinity, it makes the most sense. And of course, alongside this, as discussed by the committee that we submitted to boards, a policy be created for reviewing all names on campus, to better reflect all of Trinity today.
Natalia Kamendy, second year student
Second year student Natalia Kamendy shared with UT that she read online that the new name “was supposed to be a feminist statement, because the poet is a woman” which she believes is a good step as she is “not aware of any libraries that we have here that are named actually after women, despite many women going to Trinity, and excelling at Trinity”.
Despite this, Kamendy believes that the renaming comes “kind of late”. She stated “I’m a second year now, and when I started last year the library didn’t have a name. So it’s been, I think, even more than a year long process. So I just think by now, everybody just kind of either still calls it the Berkeley or just calls it the library. And I’m not sure, like, how fast this name will catch on, even though it’s a nice gesture”.
When The University Times asked Kamendy about the acts of renaming and denaming, she shared “I would say in general, I would be for it if there’s a reasonable enough reason for that”. For the case of the Berkeley with George Berkeley’s status as a slave owner, she thinks it was the right choice. She questions however, how it impacts other buildings on campus saying, “when you think about the Leckey library, he was a Provost who was not, to my knowledge, welcoming to women. But no one’s renaming that. So it gets kind of murky”. She acknowledged, “Yes, it’s tradition. But then again, new traditions can be created. And I feel like important buildings should carry names of people that, they don’t have to be perfect by any means, but they maybe shouldn’t be racist.”
Buster Whaley Final Year PPES
Speaking to The University Times, Buster Whaley stated, “It’s nice to have a building named after a woman, and it’s great that it’s also a more contemporary name. The times are changing and it’s great to see campus reflecting that.” Whaley concluded, “It’s not good to memorialise someone who did bad things. He [Berkeley] was a slave owner…it’s important to remember that and that’s why I think it’s a great thing to dename”.
Though it comes with a sense of surprise and disappointment that the Eavan Boland Library is the first building at Trinity to be named after a woman, overall the mood of students was resoundingly positive following the announcement of the library’s new name.
