Dec 11, 2015 03:36 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

The University of Maryland (UM) Board of Regents approved changing the school's football stadium to no longer bear the name of a known segregationist.

Rather than being Byrd Stadium, UM's football facility will now be called Maryland Stadium following a 12-5 vote on Friday, The Baltimore Sun reported. UM President Wallace D. Loh endorsed the name change in a letter issued earlier this week after his students started the campaign in a petition.

"Continuing the Byrd Stadium name divides us at a time when we need unity more than ever. We must accept the full truth of our past and the possibilities of our future," Loh said in a news release.

Harry Clifton "Curley" Byrd graduated from UM in 1905 and served as the school's president from 1936 to 1954, when he resigned to pursue a career in politics. Both as an administrator and a politician, Byrd supported the "separate but equal" ideology of racial segregation.

The UM Regents voted on the resolution after a debate over the decision that lasted about two hours and involved students and local residents, The Sun noted. Supporters of leaving the stadium's name unchanged argued that Byrd's leadership resulted in growth and development for nearly 20 years.

In his letter, Loh emphasized the school does not want to forget Byrd entirely and advocated for keeping his name on various academic awards and honors. Regardless, the board agreed that Byrd's name should come off the football stadium.

"Quite frankly, if you can run and you can catch and you can tackle, you should not have to do so within the symbolic shadows of someone who would have hated you," Colin Byrd, a senior sociology major who was a leader of the initial petition, told The Diamondback. "If Curley Byrd had his way, our athletic program would not look the way that it looks today."

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