A student raised a hand in class and asked, “Why is this dorm named after Alexander Graham Bell?” On a deaf campus, this was a loaded question. Bell was an oralist, opposed to sign language. He was a eugenicist, opposed to deaf marriages. Indeed, the more I thought about it, the better this question got. Why did the school name a dorm after him? Unfortunately, I hadn't the foggiest idea. With apologies to that student, I offer this article as a belated answer.

Keywords:
Deaf history, campus history, eugenics, cultural geography
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2007
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