Witherspoon Student Center
Title
Witherspoon Student Center
Description
The Student Center Annex (SCA), now the Witherspoon Student Center, was completed in the fall of 1990 and opened in January 1991. Raleigh contractor Clancy and Theys Construction Company built the SCA and Michael Rickenbaker served as the consulting architect. The SCA was built to adjust to the increase of students and their need for space.
Additional space also meant the shuffling of student organization headquarters. Some of the organizations that moved from the Talley Student Center to the SCA were WKNC, NC State's radio station; the Agromeck, NC State's yearbook; the Technician, one of the university's newspaper; and Windhover, the school's literary and arts magazine.
On April 1, 1995, the SCA was renamed the Witherspoon Student Center after Dr. Augustus Witherspoon who taught botany at NC State from 1969 to 1994. He began as an instructor and rose to full professor in 1982. Witherspoon was the second African American to earn a doctorate degree from NCSU and authored or co-authored fifteen publications. He served as principal investigator for ten-federally funded environmental studies.
Witherspoon was influential in North Carolina’s and the university’s communities. Dr. Witherspoon was a pastor of St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church from 1981 until his death in 1994, and a member of St. Paul AME Church. He served on the Executive Board of City Vista Volunteers, was a part of North Carolina Alcohol Research Authority, and Neighborhood Arts Council. He helped organize the African American Parents Educational Advocacy Association. Witherspoon also had a major role in African American student retention and enrollment at NC State.
The day after the Witherspoon Student Center naming ceremony, the university held a gathering for the Raleigh African American community and NC State African American faculty and staff at the Martin Street Baptist Church to discuss the relationship between the university and the African American community. Chancellor Larry Monteith spoke, and remarked on the university’s improved relations with the African American community since the late 1970s, but also stated there was still more the university could do. Monteith noted that one of the reasons for NC State’s negative reputation in the African American community was due to NC State not extending their outreach programs to the African American community.
At his speech Monteith stated that another reason for NC State’s unfavorable reputation was the exclusion African American students felt on campus. In 1974, the YMCA near campus was demolished for a School of Design building. African American students were outraged by the YMCA’s destruction because the YMCA was where the students met and felt a sense of community. Banks Talley Jr., Administrator of Student Affairs, believed there was no need for two student unions. After talking with Witherspoon who was aware of the African American students' sentiments, Talley suggested a "Black Union." But Witherspoon objected, reasoning that there was no need for a separate union and a "Black Union" was not the same as a cultural center. After a forum with the NC State community, in 1975, the African American Cultural Center (AACC) was created and located in the old print shop, or currently, the West Dunn Building. Students found the facilities dissatisfying with the shop’s poor ventilation and limited space. Students wanted a library and more space for black organizations. A decade and a half later, after debating and planning amongst student, faculty, and staff, the AACC was added to the construction plans of the SCA.
Witherspoon helped the AACC to grow, but he was not alive to accept the honor of having the SCA renamed after him. Efforts had been made to have the building renamed while Witherspoon was still on campus. Around 1986 and 1987, student body president, Gary V. Mauney and instructor and coordinator of African American Student Affairs, Jerry L. Bettis Sr. recommended Witherspoon’s name to replace “Student Center Annex.” In 1993, the Association of Students for African American Culture pushed for Witherspoon’s name to replace AACC. Two years later SCA changed to Witherspoon Student Center. The renaming ceremony consisted of a speech by Chancellor Larry Monteith, NC State faculty, staff, student; Cookie Witherspoon, Witherspoon's wife, and one of NC State's first African American undergraduate student, Irwin Holmes. The Chancellor’s speech highlighted Witherspoon’s efforts in increasing the African American student enrollment and retention, and the significance of Witherspoon being the first African American to be memorialized on campus.
The Witherspoon Student Center was and is lively. Today, the center is a place to catch a blockbuster movie, the headquarters of WKNC, and a hub for student organizations and government and publications. At the AACC’s art gallery, four to six exhibits are displayed every academic year. Topics range from Sherrod Gresham’s collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century stamps featuring black notables in 2005, to a compilation of artwork under the exhibit title, “The Politicization and Sexualization of Black Bodies” in 2019. On the whole, the AACC has hosted events such as, Heritage Day, Kwanza, Blacks in Wax Live Museum, Clark Lecture, and Pan-African Week. Lastly, speeches from Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael), Shaun King, Dr. Thadeline Cartwright, Tony Brown, Charles Moose, and Symone Sanders have been held at the AACC.
References
Original Source References
NC State University Special Collections Research Center:
Agromeck
Larry Monteith Papers, 1933-1999, 2009, 2014. MC00262.
North Carolina State University, Office of the Provost, Office of Diversity and African American Affairs Records, 1956-2011. UA 005.14.
North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, Biographical Files, 1889-2019. UA050.003 Box 6.
The Nubian Message
Technician
Secondary Source References
"Historical State Timelines: African Americans". North Carolina State University Libraries. Accessed January 29, 2019. https://historicalstate.lib.ncsu.edu/timelines/african-americans
Allison, Donnetrice C. “Free to Be Me?: Black Professors, White Institutions”. Journal of Black Studies Vol 38, Issue 4 (March 19, 2007). Pp 641-662.
Davis, Junius A. and Anne Borders-Patterson. Black Students in Predominately White North Carolina Colleges and Universities, 1986: Replication of a 1970 Study. New York: College Entrance Examination Board, 1986.
Rogers, Ibram H. The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education 1965-1972. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2012.
The Evolving Challenges of Black College Students: New Insights for Policy, Practice, and Research. Edited by Terrell L. Strayhorn and Melvin C. Terrell. Sterling: Stylus, 2010.
Additional space also meant the shuffling of student organization headquarters. Some of the organizations that moved from the Talley Student Center to the SCA were WKNC, NC State's radio station; the Agromeck, NC State's yearbook; the Technician, one of the university's newspaper; and Windhover, the school's literary and arts magazine.
On April 1, 1995, the SCA was renamed the Witherspoon Student Center after Dr. Augustus Witherspoon who taught botany at NC State from 1969 to 1994. He began as an instructor and rose to full professor in 1982. Witherspoon was the second African American to earn a doctorate degree from NCSU and authored or co-authored fifteen publications. He served as principal investigator for ten-federally funded environmental studies.
Witherspoon was influential in North Carolina’s and the university’s communities. Dr. Witherspoon was a pastor of St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church from 1981 until his death in 1994, and a member of St. Paul AME Church. He served on the Executive Board of City Vista Volunteers, was a part of North Carolina Alcohol Research Authority, and Neighborhood Arts Council. He helped organize the African American Parents Educational Advocacy Association. Witherspoon also had a major role in African American student retention and enrollment at NC State.
The day after the Witherspoon Student Center naming ceremony, the university held a gathering for the Raleigh African American community and NC State African American faculty and staff at the Martin Street Baptist Church to discuss the relationship between the university and the African American community. Chancellor Larry Monteith spoke, and remarked on the university’s improved relations with the African American community since the late 1970s, but also stated there was still more the university could do. Monteith noted that one of the reasons for NC State’s negative reputation in the African American community was due to NC State not extending their outreach programs to the African American community.
At his speech Monteith stated that another reason for NC State’s unfavorable reputation was the exclusion African American students felt on campus. In 1974, the YMCA near campus was demolished for a School of Design building. African American students were outraged by the YMCA’s destruction because the YMCA was where the students met and felt a sense of community. Banks Talley Jr., Administrator of Student Affairs, believed there was no need for two student unions. After talking with Witherspoon who was aware of the African American students' sentiments, Talley suggested a "Black Union." But Witherspoon objected, reasoning that there was no need for a separate union and a "Black Union" was not the same as a cultural center. After a forum with the NC State community, in 1975, the African American Cultural Center (AACC) was created and located in the old print shop, or currently, the West Dunn Building. Students found the facilities dissatisfying with the shop’s poor ventilation and limited space. Students wanted a library and more space for black organizations. A decade and a half later, after debating and planning amongst student, faculty, and staff, the AACC was added to the construction plans of the SCA.
Witherspoon helped the AACC to grow, but he was not alive to accept the honor of having the SCA renamed after him. Efforts had been made to have the building renamed while Witherspoon was still on campus. Around 1986 and 1987, student body president, Gary V. Mauney and instructor and coordinator of African American Student Affairs, Jerry L. Bettis Sr. recommended Witherspoon’s name to replace “Student Center Annex.” In 1993, the Association of Students for African American Culture pushed for Witherspoon’s name to replace AACC. Two years later SCA changed to Witherspoon Student Center. The renaming ceremony consisted of a speech by Chancellor Larry Monteith, NC State faculty, staff, student; Cookie Witherspoon, Witherspoon's wife, and one of NC State's first African American undergraduate student, Irwin Holmes. The Chancellor’s speech highlighted Witherspoon’s efforts in increasing the African American student enrollment and retention, and the significance of Witherspoon being the first African American to be memorialized on campus.
The Witherspoon Student Center was and is lively. Today, the center is a place to catch a blockbuster movie, the headquarters of WKNC, and a hub for student organizations and government and publications. At the AACC’s art gallery, four to six exhibits are displayed every academic year. Topics range from Sherrod Gresham’s collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century stamps featuring black notables in 2005, to a compilation of artwork under the exhibit title, “The Politicization and Sexualization of Black Bodies” in 2019. On the whole, the AACC has hosted events such as, Heritage Day, Kwanza, Blacks in Wax Live Museum, Clark Lecture, and Pan-African Week. Lastly, speeches from Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael), Shaun King, Dr. Thadeline Cartwright, Tony Brown, Charles Moose, and Symone Sanders have been held at the AACC.
References
Original Source References
NC State University Special Collections Research Center:
Agromeck
Larry Monteith Papers, 1933-1999, 2009, 2014. MC00262.
North Carolina State University, Office of the Provost, Office of Diversity and African American Affairs Records, 1956-2011. UA 005.14.
North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, Biographical Files, 1889-2019. UA050.003 Box 6.
The Nubian Message
Technician
Secondary Source References
"Historical State Timelines: African Americans". North Carolina State University Libraries. Accessed January 29, 2019. https://historicalstate.lib.ncsu.edu/timelines/african-americans
Allison, Donnetrice C. “Free to Be Me?: Black Professors, White Institutions”. Journal of Black Studies Vol 38, Issue 4 (March 19, 2007). Pp 641-662.
Davis, Junius A. and Anne Borders-Patterson. Black Students in Predominately White North Carolina Colleges and Universities, 1986: Replication of a 1970 Study. New York: College Entrance Examination Board, 1986.
Rogers, Ibram H. The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education 1965-1972. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2012.
The Evolving Challenges of Black College Students: New Insights for Policy, Practice, and Research. Edited by Terrell L. Strayhorn and Melvin C. Terrell. Sterling: Stylus, 2010.
Creator
Jordan Scott
Date
2019/03/23
Collection
Tags
Citation
Jordan Scott, “Witherspoon Student Center,” Brick Layers: An Atlas of New Perspectives on NC State’s Campus History, accessed January 12, 2025, https://bricklayers.history.ncsu.edu/items/show/2.