Duke University will change the name of a campus building originally named after a white supremacist former North Carolina governor.

According to Inside Higher Ed, the school was facing pressure to change the building's name, but Duke administrators said the decision still was not easy. Richard H. Brodhead, university president, indicated building names are meant to be permanent and changing them should not be considered last resort options.

Ayock Hall was named for former North Carolina governor Charles B. Ayock, who helped expand public education, but was also an outspoken white supremacist and advocated for segregation. The freshman residence hall will go back to its old name, "East Residence Hall."

"When a building is named at Duke, there must be the strongest possible presumption that the name will be permanent. However, the history of Aycock Hall is unusual and singular," Brodhead wrote in an open letter to Duke student leaders. "Governor Aycock was not a graduate of Trinity College, nor was he personally involved in the college's affairs. Neither he nor anyone else provided funds for the cost of the building on the understanding that the name would be adopted.

"Further, while Governor Aycock made notable contributions to public education in North Carolina, his legacy is inextricably associated with the disenfranchisement of black voters, or what W. E. B. DuBois termed 'a civic death.'"

The Duke Chronicle reported in Jan. that the school's student government had passed a resolution to change the name of the building. Though none of them were taken, the student government recommended the building be named after Julian Abele, one of the most prominent black architects in the early 1900s.

Though Abele designed most of Duke's West Campus, he did not design the East Residence Hall, so Brodhead said it did not quite fit to name it after the architect.

"There might be the right circumstances to put his name on something at a future time," Brodhead told the Chronicle after issuing his letter.