LSU Erases Streets Named For A Confederate Officer, First Governor of Louisiana

The LSU Board of Supervisors voted to change some street names on the LSU campus. Among the streets getting named are ones named for Confederate naval officer Raphael Semmes and William Claiborne, the first American governor of Louisiana.

From WAFB:

LSU will change the name of Raphael Semmes Road which runs in front of the Student Union. The road was named after a Confederate officer.

The change is part of a plan to rename several streets on campus including a street named after former Louisiana Governor William C.C. Claiborne.

The name of Raphael Semmes Road will be changed to Veterans Drive later this week.

Semmes was an officer in the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War, serving as captain of the CSS Alabama.

[…]The LSU Board of Supervisors approved the name changes in October.  LSU said it conducted a review of all street names on campus in deciding which ones to change.  “During the review process, research was conducted on those who have campus roadways named for them and their contribution to the university,” LSU said in a statement. “The majority had little to no significant connection to LSU and were named without a formal process,” the statement said.

Raphael Semmes Road is to be renamed Veterans Drive. Governor Claiborne Drive is to be renamed Spruce Lane. The streets are to be formally renamed later this week.

The street name changes come in the wake of the movement to rename places named after former Confederates and replace monuments to Confederates. One of the groups that is leading the charge to remove Louisiana’s history is the communist organization Take ‘Em Down NOLA. It is easy to see why Raphael Semmes would be the target of these people. However, a look at the list of people Take ‘Em Down NOLA want to target shows that Governor Claiborne was also in their sights.

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We’re not suggesting that the LSU Board of Supervisors renamed Governor Claiborne Drive due to political correctness, but we can see where someone could make that argument. They could be trying to get out ahead of campus SJW mobs with the name change.

Exit question: will the city of Slidell and other cities and parishes named for non-PC people have to change their names as well?

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