Throughout Eastern’s 128 years, the university has seen 13 presidents. Eastern was established in 1895, but the first president was elected in 1989. However, that president never began his term in 1899, so Eastern’s first active president was its second. President Samuel M. Inglis (1898) Samuel Inglis was appointed to be president of Eastern Illinois.
The U.S. Senate’s Oldest Office Building Honors a Racist
Richard Russell was a segregationist and a fervent opponent of Civil Rights. So why does his name still adorn the Russell Senate Office Building?
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More than 12,000 men and women have served in Congress since 1789. But only six have received the highest honor that Congress can bestow to have their names on a Capitol Hill office building as an inspiration to future legislators. This illustrious group includes three powerful House speakers (Sam Rayburn, Nicholas Longworth, and Joseph Cannon); liberal Senate icon Philip Hart; and Republican Senate leader Everett Dirksen, who was a pivotal supporter of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But the sixth figure in the group, Georgia Senator Richard Russell, is a national embarrassment.