Auburn student center to honor Georgia chief justice

Harold D. Melton (Georgia Supreme Court)

The student center at Auburn University will be named in honor of the chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, Harold D. Melton, trustees decided Friday.

Board members voted to name the campus building for Melton, who was the first Black person elected student body president at Auburn, as the university attempts to address diversity issues.

A committee co-chaired by trustees Elizabeth Huntley and James Pratt was appointed to recommend steps focused on diversity and inclusion.

“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,” Huntley said in a statement. “I couldn’t be happier now that the hub of student activity is named for an accomplished graduate who represents Auburn with such distinction.”

Melton, of Marietta, Georgia, graduated from Auburn in 1988 after studying Spanish and international business. He graduated from the University of Georgia law school and has served on the state’s Supreme Court for 15 years.

In an email to the Opelika-Auburn News, Melton said the honor “is beyond my furthest imagination.”

“Auburn University has already given me everything I ever could have hoped for in a university, and more,” he said.