NEWS BRIEF: Landmark SCAD building honoring Clarence Thomas must be renamed, students demand

A building on the campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design named in honor of Clarence Thomas is likely to get a new moniker if a motion put forth by students succeeds. The Center for Historic Preservation, dedicated in 2010, was formerly an orphanage and convent, and the Supreme Court Justice served there as an altar boy.

The petition to replace Thomas’ name is led by SCAD animation director Griffin Hansen, host of the YouTube channel Gruppetstudios. “For the tuition of the student body to support the maintenance and upkeep of a building named after a man who actively tries to rob the student body of their fundamental rights is unacceptable,” Griffin writes on Change.org. “The signatures on this petition represent the agreement of SCAD’s student body that the hall should be renamed before the end of 2022 in recognition of a more worthy individual.” Details: change.org