Middle Tennessee University’s Board of Trustees, in a special meeting Tuesday, May 27, approved a procedure that could lead to the naming of the new Student-Athlete Performance Center at Floyd Stadium, which is set to open this fall.
Alan Thomas, vice president for business and finance, told trustees at the called meeting that the university received a request from former Gov. Bill Haslam and former U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon recommending that the center be named for Trustees Chairman Stephen B. Smith and his wife, Denise.
Thomas said such requests must first reviewed by MTSU’s Building Naming Advisory Committee, which will make a recommendation to President Sidney A. McPhee. The president then forwards the committee’s recommendation, along with his own, to the Board of Trustees for its final consideration.
However, Thomas reminded the board that university policy does not allow an individual to have more than one building named in their honor. Since Stephen Smith’s name was already affixed to the MTSU Baseball clubhouse, trustees would have to rescind that honor before the committee could consider the request, he said.
The board, led Tuesday by Vice Chair Christine Karbowiak Vanek, unanimously approved removing the name. Stephen Smith did not attend the meeting and said he would recuse himself from the board’s consideration of the matter.
The Smiths were recently recognized with the Blue Raider Impact Award for their decades of fundraising and service to the university and its athletics programs. Stephen Smith, who played baseball for MTSU, is a member of the Blue Raiders Athletic Hall of Fame.