LA GRANDE — Eastern Oregon University still is reconsidering the name of its campus library.

The university named the building the Walter M. Pierce Library, after the 17th governor of Oregon. Pierce was a landowner in the Grande Ronde Valley with progressive attitudes on gender issues and taxation. EOU changed the name in 1999 to the Pierce Library to include the contributions of his third wife, Cornelia Marvin Pierce, who was Oregon’s first state librarian.

But as Tim Seydel, the vice president of University Advancement, put it: “They represent a part of Oregon’s history that sometimes contradicts today’s values.”

That’s because Walter Pierce supported eugenics and had ties to the Ku Klux Klan. Nothing indicates he was a member of the La Grande KKK chapter, but he attended several meetings. The minutes of those meetings from 1922-23, which the Oregon Historical Society obtained and organized, document a clear connection between Pierce and the Klan, which supported him in his bid for governor. He and the Klan also supported the Oregon Compulsory Education Act, which required school-age children to attend only public schools and not parochial schools. Oregonians approved the measure, but the United States Supreme Court struck down the law as unconstitutional.

While the Klan would later try to recall support for Pierce, his connection to the organization makes him a controversial figure in Oregon history.

A petition to change the name of the library has been circulating at www.change.org for five days as of Wednesday morning and had received 2,487 signatures.

“The online petition to change the name of Pierce Library gives voice to those who are concerned about the name’s implications, not only for the university but for our community and beyond,” Seydel said.

The EOU student government, the Faculty Senate and other university organizations will provide the petition and supporting documentation and recommendations to a committee of two students, a history department faculty member and a member of the library staff.

The EOU Faculty Senate in December 2017 passed a resolution for a name change, and EOU President Tom Insko in 2018 told the board a committee would look into the possibility of removing the Pierce name from the library. According to Seydel, the committee was to finish its work in the spring, but due to the pandemic the group was unable to complete research and instead will present findings to the university in the fall.

“As a university, we approach decisions equipped with research, analysis and data, and that is what is in process today,” Seydel said. “Although EOU has a process in place to ensure this issue is addressed in a timely manner, President Insko has initiated a process that seeks to have the EOU Board review the name this summer in order to advance what is right for the EOU community.”

During the 1999 process of changing the name of the library, a report analyzed the appropriateness of the name. Those findings included documentation of the Klan support for Pierce and and his inconsistency with following Klan ideals, though the report also showed he supported the anti-immigrant views of the KKK.

Changing the name of the library again does not have total support.

“We have had some feedback from folks who are concerned about the historical context of the name,” Seydel said. “They would like to not change the name because they would like to honor the contributions that Pierce made to the state and to the region. People are also interested in not sweeping history under the rug and not pretending it never happened. We need to acknowledge that the library once had his name, perhaps with something in the library.”

Seydel also said renaming the library would be a whole other issue and the building could become simply the EOU Library or the Library.