In December of 1978, the Trustees officially name the New Women's Dormitory, which had been built across a section of South Sixth Street in 1965, Vedder Hall in honor of the Lee N. and Grace Q. Vedder Foundation and its gift of 2.25 million dollars.

In addition to student rooms, the building contained a living room, a reception room and the "pit". In 1985, the building, which had become a co-ed facility in 1973, housed 137 men and 213 women.