Iowa State eyes naming veterinary building after historic human rights activist

AMES — Iowa State University next week hopes to add to its list of 80-plus honorarily-named buildings, centers, and spaces with Board of Regents approval to name its veterinary medicine academic building, “Frederick Douglass Patterson Hall.”

Nineteenth century social reformer and human rights activist Patterson — in 1923 at age 22 — earned a doctorate of veterinary medicine from Iowa State, followed by a Master of Science in 1927. Touted as the fourth Black student to graduate from ISU’s then-44-year-old veterinary medicine college, Patterson went on to lead Tuskegee University as its president — a role he stepped into at age 34 and held for 20 years.

  Buy Photo

During his tenure, Patterson founded the university’s veterinary medicine and engineering colleges, along with the Tuskegee Aeronautical Science program — which developed the 332nd World War II fighter group known as the Tuskegee Airmen.

Patterson — named after the former slave and abolitionist from the early 1800s — also founded the United Negro College Fund, which today supports scholarships across 37 private, historically Black colleges and universities. It has raised nearly $5 billion and helped more than 500,000 students since its founding in 1944.

In 1987, Patterson became the only veterinarian and one of just three ISU alumni to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the country’s top civilian honor.

Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine recently wrapped a yearlong centennial celebration of Patterson’s ISU graduation — during which college leaders asked faculty, staff, and students for ideas on how to recognize Patterson’s achievements, according to ISU spokeswoman Angie Hunt.

That, she said, inspired the suggestion to name a building after him.

Naming scrutiny

Building names recognizing donors and alumni have come under heightened scrutiny across Iowa’s public universities in recent years after the University of Iowa in 2018 stripped donor Stephen A. Wynn’s name from its Institute for Vision Research following accusations of sexual misconduct.

Iowa State that year also became the first Iowa regent university to honor donor companies with naming recognition in its “Iowa Egg Council Layer Research Facility” and “Hy-Line Genetics Research Building” — bringing about some discussion of regent naming policies.

And in 2020, ISU removed from campus a bronze plaque honoring William Temple Hornaday — who attended Iowa State in the 1800s and received an honorary master’s degree in 1903 before curating a racist exhibit at the Bronx Zoom that involved caging a Congolese man in the Monkey House.

In addition to temporarily removing the plaque, Iowa State in the wake of that controversy in 2021 created a “Standing Committee for the Consideration of Removing Names from University Property.”

That 17-member committee was directed to evaluate requests for name removal and make recommendations based on a “reasoned, judicious and principled” investigation. Before tackling the Hornaday plaque, the committee first took on a request to remove Carrie Chapman Catt's name from Catt Hall following accusations she espoused white supremacy and racist ideology.

Although the committee began reviewing Catt Hall more than two years ago in March 2021, it hasn’t produced a recommendation and last month said it will release a draft report for public comment in the fall.

“The draft will include the committee's initial recommendation on whether the building's name should stay or be removed,” according to Iowa State’s Strategic Relations and Communications team. “The committee will determine the length of the public comment period.”

It could last up to 60 days, after which the committee will finalize its report and recommendation.

“It will take a final vote on a recommendation to keep or remove the Catt Hall name and deliver the final report to the president's office,” Iowa State communications officials said. “ISU's policy requires a two-thirds vote of the committee to recommend removal of a building name.”

Patterson building

In discussing the decision to name its veterinary medicine academic building after Patterson, the suggestion went before a separate “President’s Advisory Committee on Naming University Property,” which reviewed and recommended the proposal.

“Dr. Patterson’s family descendants are likewise supportive,” according to regent documents.

The portion of the ISU veterinary medicine complex proposed for the Patterson name includes the primary academic centers, classrooms, administrative offices, academic department offices, research labs, library, main entrance and common spaces.

The building to be named was built in 1976 and spans 360,505 square feet.

It doesn’t include the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center, the Veterinary Field Services building, the Veterinary Medicine Research Institute, and the new Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory — being built in phases given the steep total price tag topping $141 million.

  Buy Photo

Iowa State also recently honored Patterson by creating new scholarships in his honor. The “Frederick Douglass Patterson Diversity and Inclusion Award” will go annually to college faculty or staff who have advanced its diversity, equity, and inclusion mission.

The “Frederick Douglass Patterson Scholarship” will go to current and incoming doctor of veterinary medicine students.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com