Julie Ball

jball@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE - UNC Asheville trustees announced Friday that the university is renaming one of its academic buildings for retired banker, former trustee and longtime university supporter Al Whitesides.

New Hall, which was completed in 2006, will now be known as Whitesides Hall.

Alfred "Al" Whitesides Jr., 71, spent eight years as a member of the UNCA Board of Trustees. He is also active in community organizations and has served as a member of the Asheville City Schools Board of Education.

Speakers at a Friday afternoon ceremony talked about the role Whitesides played as a young man fighting for equality and desegregation of Asheville businesses and institutions.

"As I stand here today, it would not be right for me not to recognize all of those whose shoulders I stand on. A lot of people sacrificed, a lot of people died so my name could be on this building," Whitesides said during the ceremony. "It is an honor, but we still have a ways to go and we still have a lot of work to do."

The name change comes less than a year after a group of UNCA students approached trustees and questioned the lack of diversity among those who had been recognized with building names on campus.

“I guess as a student, I don’t think I can imagine a better exit to my senior year than to have the first building on campus named after a person of color and named after Al,” said Maya Newlin, student government president and one of four students who approached trustees last year.

Newlin called the naming of the building "an important moment for black students on campus."

During Friday's event, Newlin said she had been one of just a handful of black students in her residence hall when she arrived at UNCA as a freshman. She called Whitesides a "role model" for students.

But Whitesides influence goes well beyond UNCA, according to Wilma Sherrill, who serves on the UNCA Board of Trustees.

“The work that Al has done in this community for so many, especially those of color, it speaks volumes,” Sherrill said in an interview.

Trustees say Whitesides is deserving of the recognition.

“Early last year our students began this discussion about how we honor individuals on our campus. And at the same time, the Board of Trustees was having a similar conversation about how we honor our distinguished leaders,” said Pat Smith, UNCA Board of Trustees chair. “The name that came before us and that we all thought about was Al Whitesides.”

The board voted last summer to rename the building, but it took several months “to work out the details,” Smith said.

“This is special,” UNCA Chancellor Mary Grant said. “There are not many times in the life of a university where you do something like this.”

Whitesides joined the UNCA board in 2001. During that time, the university saw “unprecedented growth and construction” on campus, Smith said. That included construction of the Highsmith University Union, Zeis Hall and Governor’s Hall as well as planning for the Sherrill Center. New Hall, which houses history, humanities, literature and other departments, also opened during his time on the board.

In addition to his work as a university trustee, Whitesides has also been a big supporter of UNCA athletics and has been heavily involved with the Bulldog Athletic Association.

“We sit together at all the basketball games, and I can tell you the Asheville Bulldogs don’t have a better fan,” Sherrill said.

Newlin said last year students passed legislation through the student senate “just to advocate for a building to be named after a person of color and in addition to rename Vance Hall or do something with Vance," which is named for Confederate officer and former Gov. Zebulon Vance.

Grant said the university is still having conversations about the Vance building.

“Because it’s important that we discuss this history. It’s important that we don’t just take history and put it away,” she said. “So the conversation is ongoing and has not stopped, but we wanted to make sure we were not just looking at the history but looking at the future and addressing the critically important piece that the students raise about not honoring our future and the connection to the community.”

Newlin, who also serves on the board of trustees, said she was “overwhelmed” hearing of Whitesides achievements.

A lifetime of service

Whitesides was surprised when he learned the university planned to honor him.

He grew up in a place known as Stumptown “as the crow flies” less than 2 miles from the UNCA campus.

As a teenager, Whitesides was active in the Asheville Student Committee on Racial Equality, a group of young people working to end segregation in Asheville institutions and businesses.

“ASCORE really started me to think about how we needed to change the world,” Whitesides said.

Whitesides said he lost count of how many times he was arrested.

A graduate of segregated Stephens Lee High School, Whitesides went on to North Carolina College what is now North Carolina Central University. After college, he planned to go on to law school.

Whitesides never intended to return to the town where he grew up. But he never made it to law school.

“After college, I was in the reserves so I had to do my active duty in the Navy,” Whitesides said. While on leave, Whitesides got a job offer from the head of what was then First Union Bank. He knew he needed a job to save some money before law school.

In 1971, he joined the bank’s training program. That job turned into a long career.

Whitesides said the bank encouraged employees to get involved in the community.

“That was really my introduction to the community,” he said of the job. “That’s really when I started working in the community on different projects.”

Whitesides' wife, Shirley, a retired teacher, has also been heavily involved in the community including serving as director of the Delta House after school program.

In addition to serving on the UNCA Board of Trustees, Whitesides was a member of the Board of Trustees for North Carolina Central University.

He retired from banking at the end of 2010, but has remained active. He said he plans to continue working on community issues.

Smith said Whitesides is “one of the few individuals who has known every one of the seven chancellors to serve UNC Asheville.”

He worked with three chancellors while serving as a trustee.

“This was, for a long time, the best kept secret in Asheville,” Whitesides said of the university. “That’s what I think has changed. I’ve seen that since I came on the board.”