Carolina Alumni Review - July/August 2007

When Max Chapman ’ 66 was shown his name over the entrance to the new science building just completed behind Phillips Hall, he is said to have remarked, “Oh, you named it for my father.” Arrangements were made quickly to add “Jr.” to the pre-cast concrete, which fortunately is relatively inexpensive to change.

Harry Chase's memorial, home of the old South Campus cafeteria, was razed in 2005.

Will they be there always? Will they School of Education building that’s under move with the furniture to the next cancer construction. center, or will new donors replace them? Donors are taking a leap of faith as well. Surely John Motley Morehead didn’t figure You can have students forever saying your he’d ever have a partner in his foundation. name when they ask how to get to class or

Harry Chase, sociologist Howard tell a friend where to meet them, but you Odum, and chemist and President Francis can’t say much of anything about what will Venable are among the University’s giants. go on inside the hall. You can’t tell them Chase lost his hall to the wrecking ball and how to teach chemistry or which professor now is remembered with a dining room to hire. You can’t even guarantee they’ll that after two years still doesn’t have a teach chemistry there. Mary Ann Smith plaque with his name on it. Odum Village Building, put up in 1901 with her money is being torn down bit by bit, and Venable and her desire for more teaching of chem-Hall is about to go. istry, has housed undergraduates, a graduate

They all were recognized for service to students “clubhouse,” math, statistics, the humanity. But even donors may soon face extension service, storage, computer science time limits. Many who are involved in the and WUNC radio. It may be a music naming process believe labs, for instance, building next. should be named for only a finite time The donors and the University will find period because when a lab turns over, it each other, but Dick Richardson said UNC usually is gutted and completely refit. should take care with continuing to balance

The trend in corporate naming of pro- the wealthy and those of good works. For-fessional sports arenas is toward fixed-time tunately for that aspiration, there’s a ready contracts. Carolina hasn’t moved in this supply of campus residence halls — two direction yet, but Kupec said it could. unnamed dorms and five apartment-style

Then there’s the question of whether buildings — that typically are not named you ever should name a building after a for donors because they’re built with bonds living person.Villanova named its basketball backed by future rent revenue. arena du Pont Pavilion for its benefactor, Richardson is going to bat for Thomas John Eleuthere du Pont. Ten years later, du Wolfe ’ 20 and former Chancellor Ferebee Pont was convicted of the murder of Taylor ’ 42. John Sanders ’ 50, who is work-Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz. The Wild- ing with a graduate student to compile a cats now play in The Pavilion. comprehensive list of building names and

Recently departed Chancellor James their backgrounds (and whose own name Renick of N.C. A&T State University in is on the School of Government building, a Greensboro found out you can get in the nod to his service), likes Gordon Gray ’30, middle of a trustees’ spat even after you’re president of the consolidated University gone. Renick may not even be implicated from 1950 to 1955. in financial irregularities at A&T, but that McMillan says three African-Americans didn’t stop the trustees from rescinding the are deserving: Wilson Caldwell, son of naming honor they gave Renick for a slaves who was a laborer for the University,

We Have Two Change Orders

Afriend of junior David Mikush was driving down Manning Drive when he phoned Mikush and asked him, “How do your grandparents spell their name?” A sign on the new dorm read “Harden.” Mikush alerted his grandfather, former Chancellor Paul Hardin, and the sign was changed in time for the dedication in April. “The street name next to it is Hardin Street, and it was spelled correctly,” Mikush said.

A Sweet D All the Same

Walter Royal Davis, whose name is on Davis Library, did not hit a 35-foot bank shot against Duke in 1974. He is an oil man and philanthropist. One might assume he just wrote a check for the massive building, but that’s not the case. As a trustee, Davis, who is not an alumnus, worked diligently over several months in the early 1970s to dissuade the state’s leaders from spreading the proceeds from the sale of Carolina’s utilities among all the state’s public campuses. UNC got almost all of the money, and the $30 million windfall coincided with the need for a new undergraduate library. Fellow trustees showed their gratitude.

Both Knew How to Cook

Students have been known to schedule their classes so as not to miss the shenanigans of Erica Kane. In the late 1990s, soap opera star Susan Lucci was an occasional visitor to the campus when her daughter was in school here. She is the donor of the Green Room in the Center for Dramatic Art. When Graham Memorial was gutted for a modern interior, the catering kitchen on the lower level was named for chef Julia Child by the donors, UNC lecturer Jim Ferguson and his wife, Ellie.

Three Rooms, No Waiting

Women apparently are especially glad to have more and better restrooms in the newly rebuilt Memorial Hall. Three ladies’ rooms are named either for donors or by donors to honor others. The men’s rooms remain, as they say, opportunities.