Auburn University Names Student Center after Graduate, Current Georgia Chief Justice
The Auburn Student Center will soon have a new name.
The Auburn Board of Trustees unanimously voted to name the center after Harold Melton.
Melton is the current chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court and the first African-American elected as the university’s student body president.
The new Student Center will be called the Harold D. Melton Student Center, which is located in the heart of campus near Jordan-Hare Stadium and Haley Center.
Melton, from Marietta, Georgia, studied international business and Spanish at Auburn, graduating in 1988. He graduated from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1991. He has served on the Georgia Supreme Court since 2005 and was sworn in as its chief justice in 2018. He serves as a board member of the Atlanta Youth Academies and on the national, local and collegiate boards for Young Life Ministries.
“The issues we face require input from our stakeholders, a fact-based examination of campus diversity and equality and a vision for meaningful, impactful change,” said Trustee Elizabeth Huntley. “I couldn’t be happier now that the hub of student activity is named for an accomplished graduate who represents Auburn with such distinction.”
Huntley and Trustee James Pratt co-chair the Auburn Board’s committee responsible for recommending steps focused on diversity and inclusion.
“Naming our student center in honor of Chief Justice Melton is an important, historic step in our long-term, deliberative, inclusive effort to strengthen Auburn and ensure that all members of the Auburn Family reach their fullest potential,” said Pratt.
