Usm Board Of Regents Unanimously Approves Art-Sociology Building Name Change

October 08, 2015 College of Arts and Humanities

The Art-Sociology Building will be renamed after Parren Mitchell, the first black graduate student of UMD.

By Hallie Miller, The Diamondback

Photo by Tom Hausman

The University System of Maryland Board of Regents unanimously approved Friday a proposal to rename the Art-Sociology Building in honor of the first black graduate student to take classes on the campus and graduate from the University of Maryland, officials said.

A decorated war veteran, Parren Mitchell applied to this university’s graduate school in 1950 but initially was denied because of his race. After filing a lawsuit, he was accepted and earned a master’s degree in sociology in 1952.

He later served as the first black congressman from Maryland and the first from any state south of the Mason Dixon Line since 1901, advocating for civil rights and minority-owned businesses.

University President Wallace Loh requested approval of the proposed name change Sept. 23, according to documents obtained by The Diamondback.

Loh wrote that the university system’s facility and program naming policy encourages the commemoration of “individuals who are both preeminent in their field of endeavor and/or have contributed meaningfully to the University System of Maryland or any of its constituent institutions.”