Board of Trustees Chair Grace Speights said trustees have received recommendations from the committee considering the Colonials moniker renaming.

Speights said in an interview Tuesday that the Board will announce a decision on the future of the moniker within the academic year, and trustees had a “very healthy conversation” this week about the matter. Trustees will continue the discussions through the Board’s next meeting in February, she said.

“We’ve had to use this moniker for a long time, and everyone wants to be thoughtful,” Speights said. “We appreciate the report that came from the committee and the committee’s recommendations.”

Following decades of student activism calling for officials to change the moniker, trustees established procedures to evaluate it and other renaming requests last June. University President Thomas LeBlanc established a committee to consider the moniker’s future the following month.

The Special Committee on the Colonials Moniker was charged with discussing six considerations to determine whether officials should change the name, including the moniker’s history and the “depth and breadth” of harm caused by it.

When they announced a renaming decision for the building now known as the University Student Center, officials said they would move onto other renaming requests once a final decision is made on the moniker’s future.