Simpkins Name Gone From UT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ University of Texas regents today stripped the name of a former law school professor and early organizer of the Ku Klux Klan from a campus dormitory in Austin.

The dorm named after William Stewart Simkins will now be known as Creekside Residence Hall. The two-story brick building was constructed in the 1950s near Waller Creek.

Simkins, who was a Confederate colonel, helped organize the Klan in Florida after the Civil War. He taught law at Texas from 1899-1929 and gave speeches and wrote papers promoting the Klan and terrorizing blacks.

Regents today also voted to change the name of Simkins Park, a small green space next to the dorm that had been named after Simkins’ brother, Eldred Simkins, who served on the university board from 1882-1896. The new name will be Creekside Park.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


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