Vermont college chapel renamed over eugenics link can keep new title, judge says
A private liberal arts college in Vermont changed the name of his chapel due to ties to eugenics, the title will not be ordered reinstated, according to a ruling in a lawsuit against the school.
Middlebury College announced in 2021 that it had dropped John Mead’s name due to his “instigative role” in the eugenics policy of the early 20th century, which “sought to isolate and restrict the reproduction of so-called ‘delinquents, dependents and defectives’ to prevent. The court ruled Oct. 3 that the college is not required to restore the name, but the judge will allow the case to proceed to a jury trial on damages on other claims, former Gov. James Douglas, special administrator of Mead’s estate, said at Wednesday.
Douglas had filed a lawsuit for breach of contract against his alma mater in 2023, accusing the school of cancel culture behavior when it removed the Mead name from the building, now called Middlebury Chapel.
Mead, a physician and industrialist who graduated from Middlebury in 1864, served as governor of Vermont from 1910 to 1912. The Mead Memorial Chapel’s name remained unchanged for more than 100 years, even after Mead’s death in 1920, the judge wrote.
“Governor Mead contributed the majority of the funds to support the original construction of the chapel, but he provided no funds for its indefinite maintenance, and Middlebury has determined that the time has come to change the name,” Judge wrote Robert Mello of the Supreme Court in the order. “In these circumstances, the court concludes that the reasonable duration of a contractual provision relating to the name of the chapel has been legally satisfied.”
Middlebury College said it is pleased that the court has resolved the claims at the heart of the estate’s case in the college’s favor. The school’s “attorneys are evaluating next steps to fully resolve the few remaining issues and move this case toward closure,” spokesman Jon Reidel said by email.
Douglas, who teaches part-time at Middlebury, said he was disappointed.
“It’s clear that the council can do the right thing at any time,” Douglas said. “The college must understand that they have discredited a generous and loyal benefactor who loved Middlebury College.”
The name was removed after state legislature apologized in May 2021 to all residents and their families and descendants who have been harmed by state-sanctioned eugenics policies and practices that have resulted in sterilizations. Middlebury was not the first school to remove a name due to support for such policies.
In 2019, the outgoing president of the University of Vermont apologized for the school’s involvement in the eugenics research of the 1920s and 1930s that contributed to sterilizations. The year before, the university decided to remove the name of a former school president from the library because of his support of the Eugenics Survey of Vermont and its leader, a college professor.
Mead and his wife gave $74,000 to the school in 1914 to create a new, prominent chapel at the highest point of the campus, Middlebury officials said in 2021. Two years earlier, Mead had strongly urged the Legislature to to adopt policies and create legislation based on eugenics theory, they said.
Douglas said Mead chose Mead Memorial Chapel as the name to honor his ancestors.
“So the entire basis for the decision is flawed,” he said.
The remaining issues to be resolved at trial are whether the transaction was a gift or a contract that Middlebury dishonestly and without good faith breached, and if so, what damages, if any, the estate is entitled to, the judge wrote.