Loss of name signals loss of history

For current UCLA students, Kinsey Hall barely exists ““ the
building has been shuttered in recent months as repairs and
renovations are made to the 76-year-old structure.

But when the building reopens next year, Kinsey Hall won’t
exist at all.

That’s because UCLA has decided to rename the structure
the Humanities Building. A placard attached to a chain-link fence
surrounding the building notes that at the request of the physics
faculty, former UCLA physics Professor and department chair Edgar
Lee Kinsey’s name will be removed from the building because
physics is no longer taught there.

But the issue runs deeper than the department’s request.
It is a story of campus politics and fund-raising needs ““ and
no one wants to talk about that. This is the age of the budget
crunch, and when the university needs money it can go to
high-powered donors, who will cough up millions for the chance to
see their names carved into the stone of a new building.

The problem is, our school’s history is being erased.

Kinsey was a pillar of the physics department. He taught at UCLA
from 1928 until his death in 1961, when he suffered a heart attack
during an Academic Senate debate. Kinsey was famous for his work in
spectroscopy and worked in the field of optics. Kinsey had no
children, and his widow passed away decades ago, so the building is
his legacy. The hall was known as the physics-biology building
until it was dedicated to Kinsey in 1963.

I imagine some current students think Kinsey Hall is actually
named after the human sexuality researcher Alfred Kinsey (no
relation to Edgar Lee Kinsey), whose life and sexual exploits were
retold in the recent film, “Kinsey.” Well, Edgar Lee
Kinsey was aware of that problem.

“A lot of people get it mixed up with the other Kinsey and
that used to drive Dr. Kinsey up the wall,” said Curt
Hamblin, a physics lab assistant who was hired by Kinsey in 1956
and at 81 years old still works for the department. “Dr.
Kinsey said he was a physicist not a sexologist.”

Hamblin said he sees no reason to remove Kinsey’s name
from the building since it has been there for so long.

Former UC president and physics professor Charles Saxon was
another friend of Kinsey’s, though he says the name change is
appropriate.

“I think it’s not unreasonable to do the renaming
given the fact that the building no longer will have any physics
activities in it,” Saxon said. “It seems to me to be
perfectly reasonable to call it the Humanities Building because
that describes what is going on there.”

Students should recognize the Saxon name ““ it is attached
to a section of on-campus student housing known as the Saxon
Suites.

For Saxon’s sake I hope the university doesn’t put
that honor up for sale some time in the future.

In the 1950s and 1960s a large number of honorary namings were
made at UCLA. For example, Dodd Hall, Powell Library, Haines Hall,
Franz Hall and Boelter Hall are all honorary names. But times have
changed.

I spoke about the renaming decision with Physics Department vice
chair Ferdinand Coroniti, and Coroniti noted that the Kinsey name
will live on with its placement on three lecture halls that make up
the teaching pavilion connected to the south end of Knudsen Hall.
They will be physics classrooms, and so it seems like a more
appropriate honor.

But they are classrooms ““ they are not a building.

The fact is, Kinsey Hall is an architectural pillar of the
campus. The erstwhile Kinsey Hall, Haines Hall, Royce Hall and
Powell Library date back to the opening of the campus and make up
the most picturesque part of the university.

All four of the buildings are named for people. But now Kinsey
Hall will be called the Humanities Building, which doesn’t
exactly fit with the others. And guess what: it’s only
temporary because the building’s name is for sale.

“I think the hope is someone will be a donor and will make
a substantial contribution to the Humanities Building and that
building will be named after that person,” Coroniti said.

While talking to Coroniti one thing came to mind: why not
transfer the Kinsey name to the newly opened Physics and Astronomy
Building? That way the Kinsey name could be attached to a prominent
building.

“I think they are still hoping to find a donor who will
contribute to the expense of the Physics and Astronomy Building,
and hoping for about $15 million to have the honor of putting a
name on that building,” Coroniti said.

So that’s for sale too.

I’m not naive ““ the school needs money. And people
like putting their names on buildings. Glorya Kaufman contributed
$18 million to get her name on the building that will house the
World Arts and Culture Department, and other rich donors have done
the same.

It appears that the honorific naming of buildings is a thing of
the past as the university looks for incremental funding from
external sources. I understand that.

But, I think it is wrong to remove long-standing honorific
namings from landmark buildings in the pursuit of money.

“When we are doing major capital projects in some measure
support comes from private sources,” UCLA spokesman Harlan
Lebo said. “We are not funded by the state exclusively.
Twenty percent comes from the state; the rest comes from bonds or
private gifts. Keep in mind, as a building Kinsey Hall is one of
the four cornerstones of the campus, but as a name that only goes
back to the 1960s. Powell Library was a relatively recent name
change too.”

As the Kinsey name is removed from the building, Kinsey’s
friends and colleagues have only fond memories of him.

“Dr. Kinsey dressed real neat and he was real
mild-mannered,” Hamblin said.

“Kinsey was a man of great integrity and conviction with a
strong commitment to UCLA,” Saxon said.

So next time you are near Knudsen Hall try to check out the
Kinsey Lecture Halls.

If you like “˜em, maybe you can save up some money to put
your name on them.

E-mail Miller at [email protected].