The Society of Merchant Venturers was historically partially a rivalry with tensions between the University and the Society, until a fire destroyed the Society's rival school in 1905, after which the Society's Technical school and its students merged into University College Bristol (at the time), thus the Society provided and maintained the premises for the University of Bristol Engineering faculty from 1909 until 1920, and completely ended financial support of the faculty in 1949 (the University does not report receiving financial support from the Society any more).

MVB was named in 1995, following a discussion with the society citing 'their historical association with Engineering education in Bristol', after which the society donated £100,000 to the Faculty of Engineering. As a result, MVB now carries a name permanently linked to a Society deeply involved in profiting from the exploitation of enslaved labour. Not only did the Society of Merchant Venturers build their wealth on the back of the African slave trade, they set up a specific petition in Parliament to be able to do so in 1690, then set up numerous petitions against the proposed Act for the total abolition of the slave trade in 1789 (the bill was thus defeated). For over 250 years, the wealth of the Society stemmed from and perpetrated the brutal labour of enslaved individuals.

Moreover, the faculty's funding streams include contributions from various donors (including £225,000 from the James Dyson Foundation in 2011, as well as other industrial partners such as Airbus, Motorola, Texas Instruments, and many more).

Sometimes, a performative change, such as renaming a building, is necessary to symbolically reject past injustices and commit to a more equitable future. It signals our collective stance against historical oppression and our dedication to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment for all members of our community. Renaming buildings and changing our logo isn't erasing history; it's about confronting it honestly and ensuring that our physical spaces align with our values of justice and equality.

Due to the conversation around decolonisation in Bristol, a year-long consultation was held by a specially created task force for MVB. This task force was created to design and deliver a process for consulting with the entire community on candidate names. This included a survey, focus groups, deliberation and proposal and a report summarising their findings. This process differed from the other buildings with names linked to colonialism, and a verdict was reached as part of the consultation. MVB is often left out of the conversation when discussing Bristol buildings. The result of the consultation from the perspective of the task force was that they believed that the proposed renaming of Merchant Venturers Building is an important step in making the building a more welcoming place for all and supporting the broader work of the Faculty for the support of Black and Black-heritage staff and students. The university's published results can be found here: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/university/anti-racism-at-bristol/taking-action/consultation-engagement-report/consultation-results/, however, the MVB only consultation did provide a strong mandate for change. 

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Evelyn Welch response can be found here: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/university/anti-racism-at-bristol/taking-action/response/ 

The outcome of the MVB rename consultation was to propose a rename to "Al-Khwarizmi Building" or "Alghorismus Building"

Al-Khwarizmi (Latin name Algorismus, Alghorismus or Algoritmi) was a 12th-century polymath, with major contributions in mathematics, astronomy and geography.

He is most famous for three things:

1) Algebra. Al-Khwarizmi laid the foundation of Algebra (the word "Algebra" is the Latinisation of the word "Al-Jabr" in the title of his book: "al-Kitāb al-Mukhtaṣar fī Ḥisāb al-Jabr wal-Muqābalah"; "The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing" the word Al-jabr meaning "completion" or "rejoining".

2) Arithmetics. Al-Khwarizmi codified Indian numerals and introduced the decimal position number system, which spread the Hindu-Arabic number system we use today. He also introduced the notion of the "algorithm" in solving computational problems, the word "algorithm" is derived from the Latinisation of Al-Khwarizmi's name "Algorismus/Algoritmi";

3) Astronomy / Geography. Al-Khwarizmi produced important treatises in these fields, including various astronomical tables and improved calculations on Ptolemy's coordinates of a wide range of geographic features.

Re-naming the Merchant Venturers Building as "Al-Khwarizmi Building" or "Algoritmi Building" is a more significant stance than, say "Babbage's Building" or "University Gate Building" precisely because of the circumstances that have led to initiating the renaming project in the first place. It's possible to see the latter two options as "safe" options. In contrast, the former option is an appropriate reaction to addressing connections to the slave trade and colonial legacy associated with MVB.

The slave trade is obviously tightly linked to the European colonial enterprise that has led to, among many other things, the shaping of the power dynamics that legitimise knowledge production and its associated histories. Scholars such as the late Edward Said, and many others, have written extensively on the subject, providing ample evidence for the erasure and delegitimisation of the histories of knowledge and alternative modes of knowledge production in colonised parts of the world. Alkhwarizmi, while perhaps famous among those familiar with the topics above, belongs to a class of scholars that have often been erased from the legacy and history of knowledge production. Pick almost any book on the history of ideas or philosophy, or a university course in these areas for that matter, in the Western world (including here in UoB), and more often than not, that period where people like Al-Khwarzimi flourished is either excluded from account or recounted as mere translators or reliers of knowledge, particularly of Greek patrimony.

Signing this petition relays that you are not happy with the result of the consultation being discarded, that you are not comfortable with the current name of the building, and that you recognise that changing it would at least be a necessary performative act. Much like changing the logo as the university has done. Instead, the decision is being ruled by Evelyn Welch, who is taking is personal accountability for this  - her view is that this is a UEB decision and that individual buildings will only be considered as part of a whole process – ‘no single group can decide how the building is used as it is a University building’. It is appalling to us that the occupants of the building do not get a say in the name of the building they work and study.