Renaming of Browning House Still in Limbo

Although the Academy decided last April that Browning House would be renamed, a new name has yet to be announced. The trustees decided to rename Browning House following a request filed by Louis N. Browning ‘50 asking to remove his family’s name from the dormitory.  While a sign bearing the name “Browning House” was removed from the building earlier this term, members of the administration contacted by The Exonian were unaware of any plans in place to determine the new name. The name “Browning House” or “Browning” is still used for all official purposes, including on Exeter Connect and on the school website.

In January of 2016, Browning wrote a letter to President of Trustees Eunice Panetta ’84, asking that his family’s name be removed from the dormitory, as he felt that the views of the school no longer aligned with his. He specifically objected to the lack of students from the Appalachians and Rocky Mountains, and Exeter’s acceptance of “same-gender marriage and homosexual coupling.”

“The decision is, thus, not the trustees’ decision to make; it is Mr. Browning’s.”

After discussing the issue, the trustees decided that Browning had the right to have his name removed from the dormitory. In an interview last April with The Exonian Panetta said, “The decision is, thus, not the trustees’ decision to make; it is Mr. Browning’s.”

When asked about the status of the Browning name change as of this fall, Panetta said that any decisions on the topic were in the hands of the administration, which does not appear to have taken any actions to date. Attempts to contact Dean of Residential Life AJ Cosgrove, Dean of Faculty Ethan Shapiro, who also serves as a dorm faculty in Browning House, and Assistant Principal Ronald Kim, however, did not yield any additional information on the matter. Each stated that they were uninvolved in any discussions surrounding the Browning name change. Principal Lisa MacFarlane did not respond to a request for an interview by the time The Exonian went to press on Wednesday evening.

There has been no prior incident of a name removal by request of an Alumnus/a in the past, so there is little precedent for administrators to follow in changing the name. However, student and faculty residents of Browning, unaware of any plans set in place to rename their dormitory, seemed impatient for information on the change.

Prep Thomas Wang felt that since his arrival in the fall, the name of his dormitory has been a source of confusion. He said that he and other dorm members would like a greater degree of transparency as the name-changing process continues. “[Administrators] haven’t really kept us informed, and they just took down the sign down one day, without telling us beforehand,” he said.

Browning House faculty member and mathematics instructor David Huoppi acknowledged that neither he nor any other faculty affiliates have received additional information on the name’s removal or change.

Upper Julian Perez agreed with Wang. He said he found it strange that there has been no conversation between members of the dormitory and the administration on the planned name change. “I think that it’s weird that the school hasn’t updated us on anything. Most of the guys in the dorm are confused because nothing has happened yet,” he said.

Wang was frustrated by this lack of clarity. He said he believes that the residents of Browning are entitled to inclusion in the renaming process. “It’s so unfair that they keep us, the residents of Browning, outside of the loop,” he said

Although frustrated by the lack of transparency surrounding the name change, some members of the dorm feel that the renaming itself will have little effect on the dorm’s identity and culture. “It’s annoying, but I don’t think them removing the sign is going to have any impact on how we refer to ourselves. Until the school changes the name, I think we're still going to call ourselves Browning House,” senior Rohan Upadhyayula said.

Mulligan expressed a similar sentiment, saying that even if the official name of the dormitory is changed, the name “Browning House” would remain cemented in his memory. “It’s always going to be Browning House to me so it doesn’t really matter.”