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The renaming of Porteus Hall at the University of Hawaii Manoa campus is the concrete question at the centre of this 1998 episode, set against a broader debate about how institutions should reckon with historical figures whose work touched on race. The building is named after Stanley Porteus, a psychologist known for developing the Porteus maze test, which remains in academic use. Peter Manicas argued that passages from Porteus's 1926 book "Temperament and Race" were plainly racist and that the university was obligated to change the name. Ronald C. Johnson countered that Porteus's scientific contributions were substantial and that he held no belief in the overall superiority of any one racial group, though Johnson acknowledged that certain passages from the 1926 book caused discomfort even for supporters. Jim Mak offered a more pragmatic view, arguing that the university could generate revenue by selling naming rights to donors, a practice already common at institutions across the country. The episode noted that an attempt to name the building after Porteus had been contested as far back as 1974.
Transcript
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Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
