The National Trust for Historic Preservation has breathed new life into hopes that the oldest building at Lincoln University will carry its legacy on into the future.

Despite unsuccessful efforts as recent as 2013 to save Lincoln University’s Azikiwe-Nkrumah Hall, the National Trust has just listed the historic 1865 building to its latest list of America’s most endangered portals to the past.

Named after alumni who served as the first presidents of Nigeria and Ghana, Azikiwe-Nkrumah Hall “stands as a symbol of enlightenment and opportunity for students pursuing higher education across the country,” National Trust President and CEO Stephanie K. Meeks said in a Philly.com report by Michaelle Bond.

“The educational and cultural significance of Azikiwe-Nkrumah Hall is unparalleled. At a time when people across the country are publicly contributing to the ongoing conversation on racial justice, we must recognize that some stories can only be told through the places where they happened.”

Standing in the way of the hall’s preservation are 20-year-old plans to redevelop it into a welcome center, a project that the state has funded. Previous preservation efforts led the state to hire a 2013 review on behalf of Lincoln University, and that firm recommended the hall, which is in “poor to fair” shape, be demolished.

That conclusion, however, doesn’t sit well with a faction of alumni and now the National Trust.

“How can you call yourself a historically black university if you don’t value the historic buildings?” Alumni Association President and Lincoln University Heritage Initiative Vice President Robert Ingram asked in the article.

Read much more about the effort to save Azikiwe-Nkrumah Hall on Philly.com here.