Naming new CSU building for Frank Brown is perfect honor

There could not be a more appropriate name for the new Columbus State University downtown building that will house the nursing school and many of the education programs.

Dr. Frank D. Brown Hall.

Perfect. Congratulations to CSU President Chris Markwood, the state Board of Regents and anyone else who had a hand in this designation.

Frank Brown was president of the university for two decades, retiring after the 2008 academic year. He’s the face of the change that led the institution from a small college of about 4,000 to a regional university of nearly 8,400 students. Under his watch, CSU opened the downtown RiverPark campus. He sought — selling his university every step of the way — the tens of millions of private dollars needed to expand downtown. He had a lot of help. Community leaders like retired Synovus Chairman Jimmy Yancey, a proud CSU graduate, and many others pushed and pulled until it was done.

But Brown gets the lion’s share of the credit for one thing — and it may very well be the single most important thing in Columbus State’s rise as an institution. He knew, more than any other person, to change the college, you had to change the way people perceived it.

And, oh, how masterful he was in doing that. He was nothing short of brilliant in that respect.

In his early years as president, the main campus was located off Cody Road. For those of you who have been here a few years, it is certain that you remember the less-than-flattering nickname, Cody Road High.

Over the years, many of the brightest high school students in this community went off to state four-year universities like Georgia, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia Southern, Troy or Florida State. Some of those kids would subtly point out to their friends and classmates who elected to stay here that they were going to “Cody Road High.”

You know, the 13^th grade?

Brown aggressively and forcefully changed that perception. As they were widening Cody Road, he lobbied Columbus Council and the businesses on that road to change the name. He almost single-handedly demanded it be called University Avenue.

And he got it done. Columbus College was now located on University Avenue.

“Then the chancellor came down for a visit after the signs were up and he said, ‘I noticed the name of your street out here has changed for Columbus College. It says University Avenue.’” Brown said in an interview last year. “I said, ‘We're putting you on notice, Mr. Chancellor, we're coming at you.’”

When Frank Brown came after you, it he came with the force of a thousand rivers, the only problem was you didn’t know it. And instead of fighting that force, you swam with the tide.

Before he got into academia, he was an IBM salesman in the 1970s.

“I learned to close the deal,” Brown said eight years ago in an exit interview as he prepared to retire. “It's a two-step process. First, you ask for the sale. Second, you close the deal. You don't ever sell anything if you don't ask. You don't ever close the deal if the customer doesn't think what you are selling will make a difference.”

Markwood, in his request to the Board of Regents to name the building for Brown, acknowledged that.

“Housing CSU’s nursing and many education programs, this building also is completely funded through private giving,” Markwood said in a letter to the Regents proposing the naming. “Because of its repurposed use, its reliance on private funding, its visibility to the community and its mission to teach and serve, we believe it would be most appropriate for this new complex to be known at the Dr. Frank D. Brown Hall.”

Some will say this new building is Brown’s legacy. That is wrong on so many counts. His legacy is “Cody Road High” is now a full fledged regional state university producing business, education, nursing and arts graduates making a difference in this community and others.

But he has never been one about legacy. In a May 2015 Ledger-Enquirer interview Brown was asked about his legacy.

‘I don’t need a legacy,” he responded, almost offended by the question. “I want to see what we’ve begun continued.”

In all likelihood, what he and others started in motion will only get better. And that is his true legacy.

His name on a fancy new $27 million building is just an appropriate way to recognize that legacy.

This story was originally published November 12, 2016 at 7:44 PM with the headline "Naming new CSU building for Frank Brown is perfect honor."