College renames building amid link to racial segregation

EWING >> The College of New Jersey has changed the name of a building amid concern its namesake was a racial segregationist.

Paul Loser Hall was renamed Trenton Hall on Wednesday by the college board of trustees. The move comes a week after President R. Barbara Gitenstein accepted an advisory commission’s recommendation.

The public college in Ewing, a suburb of Trenton, has over 7,000 students. The Office of Admissions and School of Nursing, Health and Exercise are housed in the newly named Trenton Hall.

Paul Loser was a former school superintendent in Trenton from 1932 to 1955.

In November, a group of students questioned having his name on a building after they found he had testified in a 1944 lawsuit that black students “were better off when separated from whites.”

Loser continued to push for segregation even after a 1944 state Supreme Court decision outlawed it.

Gitenstein said the school superintendent’s legacy does not represent the college’s values, adding that then-college President Roscoe West advocated for desegregation in Trenton.

She said the new name reflects the school’s history with the city.

“We have a longstanding history with the city and this name will remind us and everyone who visits campus that TCNJ’s roots run through our state capital,” she said.

Loser’s family donated $1 million to the college in 1987 and $5 million in 2006. The gifts were not involved in the naming of the building, according to Gitenstein. Paul Loser Hall at The College of New Jersey was renamed Trenton Hall on Wednesday by the college board of trustees.