University of Texas to Consider Taking Klansman’s Name Off Dorm

Diverse Issues in Higher Education
by Jim Vertuno, Associated Press , July 15, 2010

AUSTIN, Texas – The president of the University of Texas will ask the school's regents to remove the name of a former professor and Ku Klux Klan member from a campus dormitory.
Simkins Hall, a two-story brick dorm built in the 1950s, is named after William Simkins, who was a popular law school professor in the early part of the 20th century but one with a dubious past. He served as a Confederate fighter and early organizer of the Ku Klux Klan in Florida, promoting the Klan and bragging about efforts to terrorize and harass "darkey" in campus speeches and publications.

Full Story: http://diverseeducation.com/article/13958/university-of-texas-to-consider-taking-klansman-s-name-off-dorm.html

Half-century later, UT to reconsider naming of dorm for Klansman

statesman.com
By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
AMERICAN-STATEMAN STAFF
Updated: 1:31 a.m. Thursday, May 20, 2010
Published: 9:22 p.m. Wednesday, May 19, 2010

William Stewart Simkins organized KKK in Florida before becoming a law professor in Texas

Simkins Residence Hall is the last all-male dormitory at the University of Texas. Tucked into a quiet corner of campus along Waller Creek, it was the first men's dorm with air conditioning.
It is notable for another reason as well: Simkins is named for a UT law professor who was a leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
William Stewart Simkins, who taught at the School of Law for 30 years until his death in 1929, organized the Klan in Florida after the Civil War along with his brother, Eldred, who later became a member of the UT System Board of Regents.

Full Story: http://www.statesman.com/news/local/half-century-later-ut-to-reconsider-naming-of-698255.html