Robert B. House Library

Before he left for France to fight in World War I, Robert B. House, a 1916 first-honors graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, sent Frank Porter Graham a letter in which he made his loyalties clear.

"I am not a single-purposed man; if I have one dominant desire I don't recognize it," he wrote. "But the resultant of all my desires to live and serve is a purpose to come back and live and serve through Carolina."

House did, in fact, return to UNC-CH.

Not only did he serve the University for decades, but his name lives on - the Undergraduate Library that has stood by the Pit since 1968 bears his name.

"He was a steady, responsible administrator," says John Sanders, former director of the Institute of Government. "He was deeply devoted to the University and generally liked by Trustees."

House led the University from 1934 to 1957. He worked as executive secretary from 1926 to 1934 for Harry Chase and Frank Porter Graham.

"He kept the place going while President Graham in particular pursued the additional ends of those involved in the presidency," Sanders says.

House served as dean of administration from 1934 to 1945 and chancellor from 1945 to 1957. In 1945, the office of chancellor was established with the creation of the consolidated University of North Carolina system.

His administration oversaw a number of significant changes.

The General College was organized in 1935 and the athletic program was expanded - but perhaps the most monumental issue House dealt with during his time at the helm was integration.

"He was not particularly reactionary; he didn't stand in the schoolhouse doors, forbid entry or anything," Sanders says. "But if the world had run by his standards, there would not have been integration."

At first, House refused to supply black graduate students with student athletic passbooks in 1951, because he said football games were "social occasions."

The students eventually were given tickets, but House included a letter that, in effect, recommended they weren't to be used.

House again tried to take a stand against integration in the spring of 1952, balking at the idea of an integrated law school dance. He declared that "no mixed social functions shall be held on the University campus."

His stance on segregation was a moderate part of his record and he partook of the attitudes of his time, Sanders says.

In his 1992 book, "Light on the Hill," William D. Snider writes, "As a genial, pipe-smoking, harmonica player elevated to the chancellorship, (House) never took himself too seriously and managed to charm both faculty and students."

House, who received a master's degree in English from Harvard University, was known for his prowess with words and reflected on his college years at UNC-CH in his 1964 memoir, "The Light that Shines."

"As I saw Franklin Street in 1912, it was a dusty red avenue cut through a forest of magnificent trees," House writes. "My first impression of Chapel Hill was trees; my last impression is trees. - It is no wonder that Chapel Hillians are ardent tree worshippers and the symbol of the place is Davie Poplar."

Like the trees of his beloved University, House led his life with his roots firmly embedded in the UNC-CH campus.

 

Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.