President Valerie Smith announced today that the College's Board of Managers approved her recommendation for a new name for Old Science Hall: Edley-Morgan Hall, effective immediately.

The name recognizes two illustrious members of the Swarthmore community: legal scholar Christopher F. Edley Jr. ’73, H’99 (1953-2024) and Kathryn L. Morgan (1919-2010), Sara Lawrence Lightfoot Professor Emerita of History.

The effort to rename Old Science Hall began in earnest last academic year following a recent discovery that the building’s former namesake engaged in unethical research and teaching practices more than a century ago. In December 2025, Smith convened a task force of students, faculty, and staff members to carry out that work. At the time, she also expressed her hope that a new name would offer "space for healing, understanding, and a clearer sense of our shared purpose. Swarthmore’s strength has always come from its willingness to confront difficult truths with humility and resolve.”
 

Edley graduated from Swarthmore with High Honors in mathematics and later earned an MPP and J.D. from Harvard University. He then spent 23 years as a professor at Harvard Law School, where he co-founded the Harvard Civil Rights Project. Edley’s extensive public service career included White House policy and budget positions under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and a senior policy adviser position on five presidential campaigns. He also served on President Obama’s Transition Board with responsibility for education, immigration, and health, and as UC-Berkeley Law’s dean from 2004 to 2013. Edley and his father, Christopher F. Edley H’76, are the only father and son to both receive honorary degrees from the College.

Morgan, a pioneering and influential folklorist and historian, was Swarthmore’s first African American professor and the first African American woman and second African American to receive tenure at the College. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Morgan earned a B.A. from what is now Virginia State University, an M.A. from Howard University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Morgan joined Swarthmore’s History Department in 1970 and played a key role in leading Black Studies before institutional support for the program existed. She taught and spoke widely on African American folklore, history, and culture, and held teaching positions at Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, the University of Delaware, and University of California, Berkeley.

"This renaming is an important milestone, but not the end of this work," says Smith. "Our further efforts will also ensure that this reckoning with the past is appropriately documented and acknowledged so our community can continue to learn and heal."