Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera says he resigned from a voluntary position at Yale University after the school decided to change the name of a residential college that honors a slavery supporter.
Rivera said Sunday on Twitter that he resigned as an associate fellow of Calhoun College. He said the position was an honor "but intolerant insistence on political correctness is lame."
Calhoun College was named after 19th century alumnus and former Vice President John C. Calhoun, an ardent supporter of slavery.
Yale announced Saturday it was renaming the college after trailblazing computer scientist Grace Murray Hopper. Hopper was a Navy rear admiral and a computer programming pioneer. She graduated from Yale in the 1930s, about the same time Calhoun College received its name.
In 2015 students circulated a petition to rename the school. Last year Yale President Peter Salovey said the name would stay, but later said he’d reconsider the decision. In announcing the new name, Salovey said Yale has what he called a ‘strong presumption’ against renaming buildings on campus.
Salovey said the name change should take effect by the 2017-2018 academic year.
Yale said in a statement Sunday that it respected Rivera's decision, but said its choice to rename the college was based on principle, not political correctness.
