UCL has a racist legacy, but can it move on?

University College London has removed the names of eugenicists from three of its buildings. How far this goes to address an abhorrent past is much contested

The provost of University College London announced in June this year that its Galton Lecture Theatre, Pearson Lecture Theatre and Pearson Building had all been renamed. They are now known by the perfectly unmemorable names of, respectively, Lecture Theatre 115, Lecture Theatre G22 and the North-West Wing.

What sounds like a dull piece of administrative news is in fact a complex tale of a racist legacy, student politics, academic disputes and an impassioned debate about the history of science and how it is taught. It also goes to the heart of an issue that looks set to become one of great contention in the months and years ahead: by what criteria do we judge who should no longer be commemorated – at universities and in society at large?

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