Renaming of Austin school runs into crowdsourced chaos
Has America learned nothing from the saga of Boaty McBoatface?
In an effort to rename an elementary school currently named for Confederate general Robert E. Lee, an Austin school is finding out that when you ask the public for suggestions, you better be prepared for an onslaught of silly.
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In March, officials decided to recommend changing the name of the school after public feedback in the wake of last June's deadly Charleston, South Carolina church shootings. The white supremacy symbols and literature that have been associated with the alleged shooter, Dylann Roof, caused a ripple effect that has prompted a reconsideration of some objects named for Confederate leaders.
Many cities, including Austin, have removed statues of Confederate leaders from public view or renamed streets and buildings named after Confederate figures.
Ultimately, Austin school officials will get the final say in what they name the school, but they opened up the process to suggestions from the public and the public responded with some creative, unique suggestions.
What else would you expect from a city that has "weird" right in its motto?
Among the top vote-getters: Donald J. Trump Elementary (45 nominations) and The Adolf Hitler School for Friendship and Tolerance (8 nominations). There were also a large number of nominations to keep the school named Robert E. Lee (34 nominations).
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Some of the names are quirky but acceptable, like Harper Lee Elementary (30 nominations) and Wille Nelson Elementary (only 2 nominations, incredibly). Other names are stubborn rebuttals of what the nominators see as "PC" culture, like Bleeding Heart Liberal Elementary, Ignorance is Bliss Elementary, and, of course, Politically Correct Elementary.
Other figures submitted as the school's new namesake run the spectrum from Kanye West to Harriet Tubman to Sally Ride to WWE wrestler John Cena.
And, of course, there are nominations for Boaty McBoatface and Schoolie McSchoolface.
The full list of nominations is below.
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Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
