New Haven — The debate over removing symbols of slavery and racism, such as the Confederate battle flag, from places of honor is occurring at Yale University, where calls to rename Calhoun College have been revived.

An online petition calls for changing the name of the residential college named for John C. Calhoun, a dedicated supporter of slavery who was also a U.S. vice president in two administrations and a longtime senator from South Carolina.

“At a time when many of his southern colleagues viewed slavery as a necessary evil, Calhoun infamously defended the institution as ‘a positive good,’” states the petition, which had drawn 943 online signatures as of Wednesday evening. “His legacy is built on his vociferous defense of a state’s right to enslave blacks. And during his tenure in Washington, he sharpened racist rhetoric, bolstered the political clout of slaveowners, and drove the nation irreversibly toward dissolution and war.”

An 1804 graduate of Yale, Calhoun “was a fierce advocate for slavery and avowed racist and I don’t think it’s appropriate in this day and age to have a building” named for him, said Dr. Matthew Goldenberg, who was a Calhoun resident, graduating in 1999 and going on to the Yale Medical School as a student and faculty member.

Goldenberg, who signed the online petition, said he understands the argument against “trying to whitewash history,” but said, “there are other ways that we can learn about history other than having a residential college named after such a person.” He said that as a student he “was perhaps more ambivalent than I am now about changing the name,” but remembers “several students, including African-American classmates of mine, who did feel uncomfortable,” and said he did as well.

David Manners-Weber lived in Calhoun and graduated in 2010. He is now a Yale Law School student. “To be the namesake of a college is a tremendous honor,” he said in an email to the Register. “It represents the admiration of the university and signals to students the type of alumni we most value. John C Calhoun does not deserve that honor.

“If we want the sting of remembrance that indeed this was a man we once celebrated, we can do it without placing a vociferous racist at the heart of student life.”

The controversy, which has largely focused on displays of the Confederate battle flag, follows the fatal shooting of nine people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. It also has breathed life into the debate at Yale.

One of the original residential colleges in 1932, Calhoun, situated at College and Elm streets, acknowledges the controversy on its website. “In recent years there have been attempts to convince the university to rename the college or at least hyphenate it to reflect changing sensibilities about honoring advocates of slavery. One suggested alternative is to call the college Calhoun-Bouchet College,” which would honor Edward Bouchet, the first African-American to graduate from Yale.

The petition, however, rejects the idea of linking Calhoun and Bouchet.

“Like the official display of the Confederate flag in South Carolina, Calhoun College represents an indifference to centuries of pain and suffering among the black population,” the petition states. “It conveys disrespect toward black perspectives, and serves a barrier toward racial inclusiveness. Calhoun College will always preclude minority students from feeling truly at home at Yale.”

Ten of Yale’s 12 residential colleges are named for white men (the other two are Branford and Saybrook). An online open letter has suggested that two new residential colleges scheduled to open in 2017 be named for a woman or minority or both, with Bouchet among the names suggested.

Christopher Ho, class of 1977, sent an email this week to Yale President Peter Salovey and the Yale Corporation arguing against keeping Calhoun’s name, which he called “an inexplicable blot on Yale’s record.”

“This is a historical moment at which Yale should forthrightly acknowledge that continuing to have that college bear his name is, at best, an embarrassing anachronism that must now be repudiated,” Ho wrote.

Karen Peart, deputy press secretary for Yale, issued a statement Wednesday that said, “The university welcomes engagement and discussion on this important topic: the tragedy in Charleston, on top of countless preceding tragedies in our country’s history, has elevated public opinion and discourse on difficult subjects that have too long been avoided.”

Call Ed Stannard at 203-680-9382.