De Blasio's son Dante protests Yale college named for segregationist John C. Calhoun

Mayor Bill de Blasio's son Dante, a Yale University freshman, has been involved in the recent racial protests that have roiled the campus and is among demonstrators calling for the renaming of the school's Calhoun College, the mayor said. John C. Calhoun was a 19th century U.S. vice president and senator who was a proponent of slavery.

"You can understand as a young man of African descent that it doesn't feel particularly appropriate to live in a place named after the chief segregationist leader of the South in that period of time," de Blasio said Monday of Dante, 18, who is biracial.

"He's active in the black student union, and he's been to some of the protests, I know that," the mayor said at an unrelated Manhattan event, responding to a reporter's question. He said he doesn't want to speak for Dante, but knows the teenager's views.

The younger de Blasio was at the announcement of his parents' mental health blueprint to show his support, but did not speak with reporters.

The mayor said he agrees with Dante that Calhoun College "is named for someone it shouldn't be named for."