Michigan State University officials decided to rename a building after they determined the namesake was a member of the Ku Klux Klan

• Officials from Michigan State University voted to drop the name of a human resources building after determining that the namesake belonged to the Ku Klux Klan.
• The building's namesake, Stephen S. Nisbet, contributed years of service to the university.
• The decision to drop Nisbet's name came amid objections from family members who say they were shocked by his possible KKK affiliation.

Michigan State University announced on Friday that a campus building believed to be named after a Ku Klux Klan member will be renamed.

University officials discovered a KKK membership card at Central Michigan University in the name of Stephen S. Nisbet, after whom a human resources building on campus was named.

Nisbet was part of the school's governing board in the 1960s and the building was named after him in 1974 following years of his service to the school, the Associated Press reported.

Among his most significant contributions to the university was a rewrite of the school's constitution in 1961. Nisbet died in 1986, according to the Associated Press.

The decision to drop his name from the building came amid objections from family members who say they were shocked upon hearing about Nisbet's possible affiliation with the white supremacy group.

Stephen, a grandson to Nisbet, said the signature on the membership card didn't match with his grandfather's and urged for a historian to get involved to analyze and verify it, the Associated Press reported.

Stephen also said he never heard his grandfather talk about or mention the KKK.

"I spent much time in my youth and later as an adult with my grandfather and my grandmother, and I have great respect and admiration for both of them," Stephen said, according to the Associated Press.

MSU President Samuel Stanley Jr. acknowledged that "this current situation is not easy" for Nisbet's family members.

"But when it's brought to my attention recently that one of our campus buildings was named for an individual who had a possible connection to the Ku Klux Klan, I knew we needed to take immediate action," Stanley said.

The building will now be referred to as 1407 S. Harrison, as determined by a unanimous vote among the university's board of trustee members. The building might later be renamed in honor of another person, a resolution approved by the board of trustees said.

Michigan State University did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Insider.