From the Irish Times:

Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has decided to remove George Berkeley’s name from its main library because of the Irish philosopher’s association with slavery.

The Berkeley Library was named after the Kilkenny man George Berkeley who entered TCD as a graduate in March 1700 and was elected a fellow in 1707.

A working paper produced by three academics at the university, Dr Mobeen Hussain, Dr Ciaran O’Neill and Dr Patrick Walsh, states that documents show Berkeley bought and sold slaves on his Rhode Island estate. He also produced a pamphlet suggesting that slaves should be baptised as it would encourage greater obedience to their owners.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Trinity College Dublin said it would “dename the Berkeley Library while adopting a retain-and-explain approach to a stained-glass window commemorating George Berkeley”.

This is the same George Berkeley that inspired the name of the California town and university. I’m sure they’ll be embarrassed to be so far behind even the Irish in following the demands of Black Lives Matter protestors.

What should the library at Trinity College be named? The Oliver Cromwell library. It would fit with John Banville’s recent ideas about how to handle the Catholic Church in Ireland. Perhaps the Thin Lizzy library, although “The Boys are Back in Town” is now out-modedly masculinist and heteronormative.

This is a culture that has forgotten why it honors anyone. A university repudiating a philosopher such as Berkeley over his slave ownership is little different from a Catholic church that tears down statues of St. Augustine for being a fruit thief and St. Paul for persecuting St. Stephen.