IF YOU LIKE IT, PUT YOUR NAME ON IT
The stories behind the names in the new student center
Jesse Peel. Alice Crawford. Ledonia Wright. These are a few of the names students might notice as they explore the newly opened Main Campus Student Center. The expansive building has several spaces named for influential people in the university’s history and generous donors who wanted to support ECU’s future. While their names may be etched on plaques, many might not know who they are or why they gave. These are their stories.
Dr. Jesse R. Peel LGBTQ Resource Center
Backstory: Dr. Jesse Peel is not an ECU alumnus but is an eastern North Carolina native who supports a number of ECU scholarships and programs. Peel and his mother, Helen, originated the J. Woolard Peel University Scholars Award in 1986, and were early supporters of the EC Scholars Program. Peel is a retired psychiatrist and longtime AIDS activist living in Atlanta. During the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, Peel served on the board of directors of AID Atlanta and helped found Positive Impact, an organization dedicated to providing mental health programs for people with HIV and their friends, families and caregivers.
Features: Located on the second floor, the LGBTQ center features study and lounge areas, staff offices, a conference room and a lending library of more than 500 titles. The center is the largest of its kind in the UNC System.
Why he gave: Peel shares ECU’s vision of a safe and welcoming environment that promotes understanding, acceptance and visibility of the LGBTQ community. In 2014, he decided to make a significant planned gift to ECU to ensure that students in the LGBTQ community could have resources to support programming and operational expenses in the new student center.
Alice Crawford Ballroom
The ballroom in the Main Campus Student Center. (Photo by Cliff Hollis)
Backstory: Alice Crawford received her undergraduate and master’s degrees from ECU and was always a proud Pirate. She loved going to football games and knew the alma mater by heart. “She never had to look at the screen with the lyrics,” said her son, Neal. Neal is the former president of Towne Bank. When Alice died in 2016, the bank named the ballroom as a gift in her memory.
Features: The Alice Crawford Ballroom is in Ballroom C on the second floor. Each of the student center’s three ballrooms holds 650 people, and they can be combined to hold over 1,900. The grand ballroom has an added floor design with an outline of eastern North Carolina, including the state’s lighthouses and an X that marks the spot for Greenville.
Why they gave: “As much as ECU has given us, we want to give back to ECU. I want to thank the Towne Bank foundation for doing that,” Neal Crawford said. “This is to honor my mother and how much she loved ECU.”
Kirk and Dasha Little
Little Family Greek Life Suite
Kirk and Dasha Little
Backstory: The naming honors Kirk ’82, a member of Beta Theta Pi, Dasha ’81; their sons Forrest ‘09, Raleigh ‘16, and Robert, a current ECU student; and daughter Meredith ’12. All three of the Littles’ sons are members of Beta Theta Pi and Meredith is a member of Sigma Sigma Sigma.
Features: The suite will house five professional staff offices, student workspaces and a conference room. The suite will also feature The Jamie and Christina LeLiever Conference Room.
Why they gave: “I personally gained a lot from Greek Life on campus,” Kirk Little said. “The new Greek Life Suite will give ECU room to expand and work more with our chapters.”
Ledonia Wright Cultural Center
Ledonia Wright
Backstory: Ledonia S. Wright was an associate professor of community health and a public health professional. In 1975, she became the first director of the African-American Cultural Center, a space for ECU’s growing minority population to gather and socialize. The center was renamed in her honor in 1995. Today, the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center specializes in diversity and social justice experiences and promotes the academic success of traditionally under-represented students.
Features: The center is on the first floor and has an art gallery, meditation room with a private wash room (Islamic prayer requires the cleaning of hands, face and feet prior to prayer), offices, library, kitchen, conference room, and outdoor barbecue space with a built-in gas grill.
Why move to the student center?
The Bloxton House, where the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center was previously located, was outdated for the center’s needs. Moving to the new student center also brings all of the university’s Intercultural Affairs Centers together for more engagements and collaborations.
Naming rights for the Main Campus Student Center are still available. Contact studentcenters@ecu.edu for more information.
Related story: ECU opens Main Campus Student Center