March 27, 2008
Renaming of Historic Penn Building Causes Controversy
Logan Hall, a Victorian-gothic structure that opened in 1874 as the original medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, will be renamed Claudia Cohen Hall, officials announced this week.
The building was named in 1906 in honor of James Logan, William Penn’s colonial secretary and a founding trustee of the College of Philadelphia, the university’s predecessor institution. But in 1995, Ronald O. Perelman, billionaire chairman of Revlon and a Penn alumnus, donated $20-million to his alma mater to renovate the Perelman Quadrangle, which includes Logan Hall.
The gift came with the option to rename Logan Hall, so Mr. Perelman has now requested that it be named in honor of his ex-wife, Claudia Cohen, who died last summer. Ms. Cohen was an entertainment journalist who graduated from Penn in 1972. She and Mr. Perelman divorced in 1994.
Some students, faculty members, and alumni are unhappy about the new name of the building, the Daily Pennsylvanian reports. Some called it “surprising” and “a little jarring.”
Ronald Shur, a 1977 Wharton graduate, told the newspaper that officials should acknowledge the history of the university, because the building is an “icon … not a whiteboard that you can constantly erase.”
Erin Strout | Posted on Thursday March 27, 2008 | PermalinkComments
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Story doesn’t say whether the Wharton grad offered to donate $20 million to convert that whiteboard into carved stone. Let me guess …
— S. Britchky Mar 27, 01:02 PM #
As a Penn alumnus, I’m a bit ambivalent about this renaming. The Perelman Quad is a great outdoor space, but the buildings that surround it are part of the history that allows Penn to claim the title of the nation’s oldest university. I usually think an institution foolish to build a new building and not use the naming rights to the best advantage, but there is something unsavory about renaming a building 100 years later. I wonder what James Logan’s contribution to the University would be worth in today’s dollars?
— Michael Fried Mar 27, 01:40 PM #