Mendenhall Student Center

Mendenhall Student Center

Mendenhall Student Center opened in August of 1974, providing the student body with a new space for gathering, socializing, and tending to the business of the student community. Located on the campus’ southwest end, Mendenhall was a vast improvement over the basement accommodations in the Wright Building that for two decades had served as the center of student social activities. The massive new building, named after the founding director of the Student Union, Cynthia Anne Mendenhall, was reportedly “one of the most modern student centers in the southeast.” In addition to serving as the “social, service, recreation, and entertainment center” for the campus, the new student center provided permanent office space for the Student Government Association and the Student Union (University Union). Mendenhall also provided spacious venues for meetings of the ECU Faculty Senate and the ECU Board of Trustees.

The $3 million facility was paid for entirely by student fees. The ground level included an eight-lane bowling alley, a billiards room, a TV room, a games room, a “coffee house” space, and a crafts center. The crafts center was fully equipped with a photo lab, a ceramics shop, a metal shop, and a shop for woodwork and leather. Mendenhall also featured a “video-tape television” that showed, for a one-week period, various programs including concerts, cartoons, and TV reruns. There was also a TV room where students could watch color broadcasts of the latest shows from each of the three major networks, CBS, NBC, and ABC, plus programming by local affiliates.

The main floor included a snack bar, a student bank, the ECU Central Ticket Office, several lounges, the information center, and an 800-seat motion picture theatre (later, Hendrix Theatre). The theatre showed travel and adventure films as well as pop movies, along with “American Classic” features every Sunday. It also served as a venue for lectures by nationally known speakers. Attendance was reportedly significantly better than at Wright Auditorium, the old Student Union venue. The third floor housed administrative offices for the student center, the SGA, and the Student Union. Several meeting rooms and conference rooms were also located on the third floor. Recognizing the grand building as a powerful affirmation of the importance of the student community, the 1976 Buccaneer featured Mendenhall on its front cover.

By the early 1980s, Mendenhall was encountering controversy and competition. Student editorials criticized Mendenhall’s administrative hierarchy, topped by its executive director, Rudolph Alexander, while calling for greater student involvement if not autonomy over the new student center. At the same time, the Student Union – one of the driving forces of student empowerment housed in Mendenhall – found it increasingly difficult to successfully book popular concert attractions for ECU. One problem was that Minges Coliseum only accommodated 6,000, limiting ticket sales and the financial attractiveness of ECU as a venue. Further complicating matters was the growth of Greenville’s downtown entertainment district, providing not only live music but also beer at a time when the legal drinking age was 19. Alcohol was not sold in Mendenhall. One Greenville club, the Attic, with its infamous “hangman’s-noose” logo, touted its standing as “the No. 6 live rock night club in the South.” Located at 103 East Fourth Street, the Attic attracted students for the same reason that Mendenhall did: as a place to relax, unwind, and socialize. And, perhaps most significantly, unlike Mendenhall, the Attic served beer. Other bar/clubs such as the Elbo Room and the Buccaneer added to the competition for students’ free time and social leanings. Even after the minimum age for alcohol purchase was raised to 21, lax enforcement made downtown bars a regular weekend attraction for many.

Mendenhall also served as a venue of political activism. The Hunger Coalition maintained a booth in Mendenhall, and the NAACP staged a march including 200 students from the Student Supply Store (now Dowdy Bookstore) to Mendenhall. It also served as ground zero for the video game craze that struck in the early 80s, with an arcade installed in the basement of Mendenhall to meet the new demand. Noted speakers attracted large crowds to Mendenhall, with Buckminister Fuller, Shirley Chisholm, Timothy Leary, G. Gordon Liddy, and James Kilpatrick appearing in Hendrix Theatre. With the 1980s, the Student Union regularly sponsored, in partnership with the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center, an annual Black Arts Festival in February of each academic year. In 1983, it brought Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, to Hendrix Auditorium in Mendenhall as part of the Black Arts Festival. Mendenhall Student Center also continued venerable summer traditions established by Cynthia Mendenhall such as weekly watermelon feasts on the mall. “Barefoot on the Mall,” sponsored by the Student Union and centered in front of Mendenhall, later emerged as one of the newer and most popular spring events.

However, when a $3.8 million addition to Mendenhall was proposed in 1981, to be paid for with student fees, the East Carolinian ran coverage skeptical of the plan. SGA president, Lester Nail, questioned the level of student support for the addition. An editorial asserted that Mendenhall was “already one of the most underutilized facilities on campus,” and suggested that with the addition of a ball room, meeting rooms, three new dining rooms, and two storage rooms, the facility might become “East Carolina’s Great White Elephant.”

Critics aside, Mendenhall remained a special place for students and the larger university community to gather, socialize, conduct business, and stage events. Its sizable presence on the west end of campus contributed to a building boom in its vicinity. Immediately west of Mendenhall, the Student Recreation Center (SRC) was dedicated in 1997. It soon attracted large numbers of students for exercise and physical activities. Funded exclusively by student fees, the SRC in turn presented Mendenhall with a challenge to upgrade its facilities to better meet students’ evolving interests and needs. Discussions ensued regarding whether to renovate or build a new center, with the latter proposal gaining support during the Ballard administration. Not far from Mendenhall, a new 200,000+ square foot student center opened in 2019. It now serves as “the premier location for the campus community.” Its more massive dimensions reflect both the growth of the campus and the real success of Mendenhall Student Center as a dedicated, inclusive space for student organizations, activities, recreation, and entertainment.

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Other names
Student Union Building
Built
1974
Construction cost
$2,935,000
Gross sq. ft.
116,900
Assignable sq. ft.
80,480
Architects
Carter Williams, Raleigh, NC
Namesake
Cynthia Anne Mendenhall was born August 21, 1922 in Fort Knox, Kentucky to James Edward and Cora Redding Mendenhall. She received her B.S. degree in Business Administration from Woman's College of North Carolina. She also spent a year at UNC-CH and obtained a B.A. degree in Sociology and Recreation and pursued further graduate study at the University of Colorado and the University of Wisconsin. She joined the staff at ECU in 1954 as the first director of the Student Union and initiated numerous recreational activities. Ms. Mendenhall succumbed to cancer February 3, 1972.
History
Built at what was once the corner of Eighth and Charles Streets, Mendenhall Student Center gives students a building all their own. The building consists of three floors, one of which is below ground. This recreational facility features Hendrix Theatre, an 800 seat film and lecture facility; eight bowling alley lanes; facilities for table games; a crafts center; coffee house; lounge; and listening rooms. The second floor is used for meetings and to display artwork. Mendenhall is located on the southwestern campus next to Joyner Library. The building was dedicated on February 9, 1974.
Additions
1989 and 1990 – Built facility for WZMB which was founded by ECU Media Board and a WZMB grant – 30,000 square foot addition costing $4 million
1993 – Renovation to the snack bar "The Spot"
1997 – Updated and remodeled the Dining Center
1998 – Expanded computer lab
2000 – Replaced carpet, wall coverings, and furnishings in the Underground and the Cynthia Lounge

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