“It feels almost like a robbery,” Columbia cardiologist who pushed to rename Bard Hall uncredited by University

By: Steven Lazickas and Hannah Stoddard

Dr. Raymond Givens sits in his living room and discusses his efforts to convince Columbia University to change the name of Bard Hall, a building at the University’s Irving Medical Center named for Samuel Bard, founder of Columbia’s medical school - and a slave owner. 

He wears a black t-shirt that bears Eric Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe.” Givens describes the countless instances since early June of this year in which he, a Black faculty member, reached out to Columbia’s leadership and received little to no response to his requests. 

For Givens, the fight to rename Bard Hall is personal. 

He grew up in the American South, where apartment buildings, parks, and whole towns are named for plantations. “My mother made a point of telling me when I was a kid that she would make sure we never had to live in a place like that. “Even as a kid I got what that meant. It was about protecting my dignity,” Givens said.

Givens was conflicted about taking his son to nursery school in Bard Hall. “Knowing that everyday [I’m] dropping him off in a building named for somebody that would have considered him property,” Givens explained, “I just kept burying that.”

Givens, a professor of medicine and Associate Director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Irving Medical Center, first learned the origins of the building’s name from a coworker when he joined faculty at Irving Medical Center in 2016. At the time, Bard’s name was also used to title a professorship the Chairman of the Department of Medicine held. 

At first, Givens was reluctant to speak out about this for fear of jeopardizing his career, but his perspective changed in late May 2020. He treated COVID-19 patients in Harlem, a neighborhood where the virus was disproportionately killing Black and brown people. Then on May 25, a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd and sparked protests worldwide. Givens felt that if there was a time to approach Columbia’s leadership about Bard Hall and the professorship, that it was then.

On June 9, Givens expressed his concerns in a faculty meeting. On June 19, he launched a Twitter campaign and started a petition on Change.org titled “Retire All Place-Names and Titles Honoring Dr. Samuel Bard at Columbia University.”

On June 23, Givens emailed Donald Landry, Chair of the Department of Medicine and Samuel Bard Professor of Medicine, asking that Bard’s name be retired from official use at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and that Landry renounce the Bard Professorship. 

Landry agreed to the latter, but provided no timeline. On Friday, June 26, he unexpectedly announced to the Department of Medicine by email that the Samuel Bard Professorship would be retired and credited Givens for his advocacy. However, in a separate email, Landry informed Givens that renouncing the professorship was as far as he would go.

“He [Landry] said to me that with respect to Bard Hall, I was on my own,” Givens says. On June 25, Givens emailed Columbia University President Lee Bollinger to request that Samuel Bard’s name be retired from official use at Columbia. He asked that Columbia’s leadership recognize the need to remove Bard’s name from University property and immediately communicate that the school is taking action. Givens received no immediate response.

On the morning of  June 28, Givens sent an email to members of the Columbia University Board of Trustees requesting they rename Bard Hall. That afternoon, an outgoing administrator at the medical school informed him that Bollinger had initiated a process to evaluate current names of buildings. However, Givens did not hear from Bollinger until several days later, on July 2, when he received a brief message from the University President confirming he had begun this process. After that, Givens received no further updates from Bollinger until an email was sent to the Columbia community at large on July 21, detailing the University’s general strategy to combat institutional racism.

After reading the University President’s email, Givens responded directly to Bollinger with frustration that his repeated attempts to engage directly with the University had been ignored. Givens pointed to the Columbia University and Slavery Project as proof that Bollinger and the University had been aware of Bard’s status as a slave owner since 2015. He again encouraged Bollinger to take immediate action. 

On July 26, Givens reached out to the Executive Vice President for University Life, Suzanne B. Goldberg, expressing similar frustrations. Goldberg responded briefly to say she would follow up, but Givens says she has not. Givens also filed a report with Columbia’s compliance office and received no response. A month later, Givens followed up, again requesting a response. The compliance office responded, stating that the office takes all reports seriously, but provided no further information.

On August 28, Bollinger announced that Bard Hall will be renamed. The statement to the Columbia community provided no timeline and made no mention of Givens. 

“Unsurprisingly, when he announced this renaming, it makes no mention of my involvement and intentionally gives the impression that this is a process that he [Bollinger] initiated,” Givens says.

When asked about his decision to speak to The Morningside Post, Givens responded, “This is all the context that you didn't get from Lee Bollinger’s statement… It feels almost like a robbery because there is so much of my history, my personal history, my cultural history that goes into this.” 

When reached for comment, a University spokesperson provided this statement:

“Because of the powerful advocacy of Dr. Givens and the contributions of many others, we will soon see this residence hall named in a way that aligns with the values of our medical center and the university.” 

What this means is unclear. Givens wonders who will have a voice in the renaming process. He also intends to continue pressing the school on its plans to go beyond Bard Hall and confront its historical relationship with slavery in its entirety. 

He asks, “Beyond merely changing names, are there any other plans to acknowledge this history and potentially make redress?” 

Givens has not yet received a response. 

This article is part of ongoing coverage on efforts to dismantle institutional racism at Columbia. As these endeavors continue, The Morningside Post will continue sharing updates with our readers.