UNCG Auditorium, designed by Harry Barton, of Greensboro, North Carolina, was opened in 1927. In 1928, a campus committee chose to name the building in memory of former North Carolina governor Charles B. Aycock. The committee wrote that “Governor Aycock was the great apostle of public education in North Carolina, that he shared with our first president, Dr. McIver, the place that this college might have in contributing to this ideal.” While Aycock was know as the “education governor” for building hundreds of public schools during his term, he also was a chief architect in a white supremacy campaign which began in the late 19th century.

Since its opening, the auditorium has been used for commencement programs, chapel programs, lectures, and concerts. In 2006, the University made extensive renovations to the building, including updating and improving acoustics, enlarging the orchestra pit, building new dressing rooms, and adding handicap accessibility to the entire building. Aycock Auditorium reopened in 2008.

On February 18, 2016, the UNCG Board of Trustees voted unanimously to remove Aycock’s name from the building. Chancellor Franklin Gilliam noted that Aycock’s name in a featured location was antithetical to “culture of the University that we’re trying to create here and our core values of excellence, opportunity for all, tolerance and inclusion.” When the letters that spelled the name Aycock were removed from the building’s Tate Street entrance in 2016, the long-covered original lettering indicating that the building was once the North Carolina College for Women Auditorium was uncovered.

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