The board of trustees of each institution shall be a body corporate with powers to enable it to acquire, hold, and transfer real and personal property, to enter into contracts, to institute and defend legal actions and suits, and to exercise such other rights and  privileges as may be necessary for the management and administration of the institution in accordance with the provisions and purposes of this Chapter. The official title of each board shall be “The Trustees  of ______” (filling in the name of the institution) and such title shall be the official corporate name of the institution.

The several boards of trustees shall hold title to all real and personal property donated to their respective institutions by private  persons or purchased with funds provided by the tax-levying authorities of their respective institutions. Title to equipment furnished by the State shall remain in the State Board of Community Colleges. In the event that an institution shall cease to operate, title to all real and personal property donated to the institution or  purchased with funds provided by the tax-levying authorities, except as provided for in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115D-14, shall vest in the county in which the institution is located, unless the terms of the deed of gift in the case of donated property provides otherwise, or unless in the case of two or more counties forming a joint institution the contract provided for in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115D-71 provides otherwise. (1963, c. 448, s. 23; 1979, c. 462, s. 2; c. 896, s. 13; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1130, s. 1.)