The late Marion Barry served as District mayor and on the D.C. Council. The “Marion S. Barry Jr. University of the District of Columbia Redesignation Act of 2015” would rename the UDC.

The death of former four-time mayor and D.C. Council member Marion S. Barry Jr. last year has generated discussion on how his legacy should be honored. D.C. Council member Vincent Orange (D-At Large) has an idea for remembering the political icon.

On Feb. 3 Orange, with D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), introduced the “Marion S. Barry Jr. University of the District of Columbia Redesignation Act of 2015,” which would rename the UDC as the Marion S. Barry Jr. University of the District of Columbia (MDUDC). “We named the new convention center the Walter E. Washington Convention Center after the city’s first mayor and I think Marion Barry deserves an honor that is equal to that,” he said.

Earlier this year, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) changed the name of the city’s youth employment program to Marion Barry Youth Leadership Institute. D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said a commission would be set up to honor Barry. Michael Rogers, the vice president for institutional advancement for UDC, said university officials are studying Orange’s legislation.

Ron Moten, a political activist in Ward 7, said, “I think Marion Barry deserves UDC being named after him. He did so much for the school and so much for the residents of the District of Columbia, whether they were Black or White.”

Kevin B. Chavous, a 2012 Ward 7 D.C. Council candidate. “While I like where Vincent Orange is coming from,” said Chavous, “I don’t think re-naming UDC with Mayor Barry’s name is the best way to honor his legacy. Outside of Washington, D.C., there are a lot of negative feelings about Marion Barry. People outside of Washington tend to remember him for the arrest and things like that instead of focusing on the great things that he did. That might hurt UDC students when they try to go to other parts of the country to study and they present their transcripts as ‘Marion Barry University’. Marion Barry was a man of the people and I think we need something more public to honor him.”

Chavous, and his brother Eric, have started a Change.org petition to rename one of the city’s major thoroughfares as “Marion Barry Avenue.” While Chavous brothers would prefer the H Street-Benning Road., N.E. corridor carry Barry’s name, they are open to other avenues.

“We would definitely be open to Good Hope Road., S.E. to be renamed in honor of Barry, but we want a street that will be heavily trafficked,” he said.