By Associated Press - Thursday, September 17, 2020

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - University of Alabama trustees are expected to vote on a proposal to change the name of a building on the Tuscaloosa campus that is currently named after a Confederate general.

The agenda for the trustees’ meeting on Thursday includes consideration of a resolution amending the name of Morgan Hall, AL.com reports.

The building houses the English department and is named for John Tyler Morgan. In addition to serving as a general in the Confederate army, Morgan was once a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, AL.com says. Morgan also served as a U.S. senator, a position from which the newspaper says he proposed sending freed Black slaves to the Philippines, the northwest U.S. and Africa.

The board of trustees formed a subcommittee this summer to address building names on its three campuses. The university has since removed plaques dedicated to Confederate soldiers and voted to change the name of another building.

A 2016 petition called for renaming Morgan Hall for author Harper Lee, according to AL.com.

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