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FSU, UF need to rename racially charged sports venues after Bobby Bowden, Billy Donovan | Commentary

A serious question for state politicians and university presidents past and present: Why wasn’t Doak Campbell’s name removed from Florida State’s football stadium and Stephen C. O’Connell’s name removed from the University of Florida’s basketball arena years ago?

It’s seems almost unfathomable that FSU president John Thrasher released a statement Monday afternoon saying he is going to ask athletics director David Coburn to review removing Campbell’s name from FSU’s stadium more than 60 years after Campbell tried his damndest to keep Black students from enrolling at FSU.

Isn’t it inherently sad that it’s taken the killing of George Floyd, weeks of massive protests and an international Black Lives Matter movement to come to the obvious conclusion that it’s hypocritical and wrong to have the names of Campbell and O’Connell — former school presidents and noted segregationists — on modern-day sports venues?