Name for new MSU dorm to carry hefty price tag
Published 10:37 pm Saturday, August 11, 2007
For right now, the new dormitory at Mississippi State University is known simply as “Building Three.”
Putting a name on the $10 million building, which will open Saturday, will require a donation in the seven figures, university officials say.
The state College Board must approve the naming of campus buildings at Mississippi’s universities.
The College Board has no set policy on naming buildings, said spokeswoman Annie Mitchell said.
Building naming policies can vary from state to state and from campus to campus and depend on when something was constructed, said Alan Richard, spokesman for the Southern Regional College Board.
For 14 years, a residence hall at the University of Mississippi was known simply as “new dorm,” said Mitchell Diggs, an Ole Miss spokesman who was a student during those years.
The building didn’t get a name until May 1984, when Dorothy H. Crosby donated money to the university to renovate Rowan Oak, the former home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Faulkner.
The private William Carey University opened two residence halls this year. One, the Rex and Mary Alice Braswell Hall, honors a business leader and his wife, who serves on the school’s board of trustees. Its naming was not the product of a financial gift.
The new MSU building will be paid for through a 30-year bond issue, said Fred Mock, an associate housing director who oversees facilities.
The donor’s money, on the other hand, would be given through the university’s foundation and fund four-year scholarships, said John Rush, vice president for development and alumni at MSU.
Last year, the school named a new residence hall for Louis Hurst. Rush said that came after an “anonymous” gift from Hurst. That donation is funding scholarships for students who don’t meet federal grant requirements and whose parents can’t afford to pay for college.
Two years ago, MSU opened a residence hall named for Roy Ruby, the school’s longtime vice president of student affairs.
Ole Miss will name it’s new $50 million law school building after Chancellor Robert Khayat.