Pacific University’s board of trustees voted over the weekend to remove Harvey Scott’s name from one of its campus buildings, citing The Oregonian’s recent series that spotlighted its former editor’s racist legacy.

“Pacific acknowledges historical ties with and past recognition of a community leader who advanced racism in our state, and we apologize for the harm it has caused,” university President Jenny Coyle said in a Monday letter to employees and current students. “We are committed to examining and learning from our past.”

Scott, the first graduate of Pacific University, edited the Morning Oregonian almost continuously from 1865 until his death in 1910, and held a minority ownership interest in the paper published by Henry Pittock. Under Scott, the newspaper excused lynching, promoted Jim Crow segregation, opposed equal rights for women and people of color, celebrated laws to exclude Asian immigrants and described Native Americans as uncivilized, saying their extermination might be needed.

Pacific University, a private school in Forest Grove with almost 4,000 students, had worked in recent years “to rethink and reframe how we acknowledge his legacy in relation to our university,” Coyle said. But Scott’s name remained on a building that housed the university’s Center for Gender Equity and Multicultural Student Center, and an 8-foot-tall portrait of him hung in the university’s library.

“As the first baccalaureate graduate, a donor and supporter of the university, and a notable and influential figure in Oregon history, he received considerable attention. Celebrating a person due to their influence alone is wrong when that influence is used to cause harm,” Coyle said in the statement.

“And, as is clear from The Oregonian’s recent reporting, his influence caused significant oppression and harm,” she added.

Coyle said the building, which opened in 1967 and is scheduled to be renovated this spring, will temporarily be renamed Pacific Hall while the university decides on a permanent name. Scott’s portrait has been removed from display, a university spokesperson said.

Scott remains the namesake of two other local schools: Scott Elementary School in Portland and Mount Scott Elementary School in the North Clackamas School District. Officials in each district did not immediately respond to requests for comment about whether they plan to reevaluate the names.