Virginia Tech to review possible Klan tie to dorm hall name

Virginia Tech will consider renaming a dorm hall over concerns that it was named after a campus Ku Klux Klan leader from the late 1800s.

The Roanoke Times reported Wednesday that Lee Hall was named after Claudius Lee. He graduated from the school in 1896 and went on to become an electrical engineering professor at the school in Blacksburg.

The university has faced numerous calls to rename the dorm ever since history students in the 1990s discovered a yearbook that said Lee was a KKK leader.

The university previously rejected calls to rename the building because historical evidence suggested the KKK reference was likely a late 19th Century prank. But an online petition that gathered nearly 10,000 signatures has prompted the school to reconsider.

President Tim Sands announced that the school would revisit the issue on Monday.

“To those who seek to rename Lee Hall, we want you to know that we have heard your concern,” Sands wrote in a message to the community. “While there have been earlier reviews of the naming of Lee Hall, I am asking that we review this issue again.”

Sands also cited the recent killing of George Floyd in police custody, among other recent deaths of black Americans.