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A ‘Coal’ Building on Campus?

The Nation's sports editor Dave Zirin argues that corporate naming rights on college campuses are a bad idea.

The Rachel Maddow Show

October 28, 2009

Joseph W. Craft III, head of a company called Alliance Coal, is willing to donate $7 million to the University of Kentucky for a new dorm facility if the school puts the word “coal” in the dorm’s name. Nation sports editor Dave Zirin visits the Rachel Maddow Show to discusses why this is ridiculous, pointing out the irony that the building would run on green energy. Most importantly, however, in order to build the dorm, the university would have to knock down the Joe B. Hall Lodge, named for an alumnus who played on the basketball team and later coached them to a national championship. Zirin pleads for keeping corporate branding off college campuses, and hopes that coalitions and basketball fans will take action to prevent this from happening.

–Alana Levinson

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