The University's day 212 years later

With elaborate pomp and circumstance the University will celebrate today its 212th birthday.

As in years past, campus leaders, many of whom will be dressed in celebratory regalia, will take the occasion to mark UNC's progress and articulate a direction for the future.

Yet centuries since its inception, the vision of the University remains the same, though its scope may have broadened a bit.

Since the laying of the cornerstone of Old West in 1793, leaders have committed UNC toward improving North Carolina.

From UNC's birth to this day, fulfillment of this mission has shifted from the initial goal of educating the state's leaders to Chancellor James Moeser's recently enunciated goal of anchoring North Carolina to UNC's global aspirations.

From its first days UNC has had an entwined relationship with the state, cultivating its future leaders.

"It's not an accident. It's very conscious that the first university and the first true state capital, Raleigh, were founded months apart," said Paul Kapp, campus historic preservation manager. "We needed to educate leaders. We needed to give them a background."

UNC focused on strengthening the state's political leadership.

"Boys learned how to stand on their feet, give a speech, go to a meeting and took all that very seriously and took that back to Mayberry with them," said Harry Watson, director of the Center for the Study of the American South.

During the antebellum years the education of the elite was considered the best way to benefit the people of the state.

"The University was often criticized by people as being too elitist in that it educated only the sons of the well-to-do," said Joe Ferrell, secretary of the faculty.

But after the devastating effect of the Civil War on the people and economy of North Carolina, the University began to broaden its relationship with the state.

By the late 1920s - about the same time Polk Place and the surrounding buildings joined the campus - University officials took steps to extend the reach of the University to all people of the state.

"UNC became the focal point of a group of scholars who really wanted to study what they regarded as the social problems of their own time," Watson said, "especially the social problems right next to them."

These scholars, many of whom became the namesakes for the University's myriad buildings, stirred controversy when they encouraged the state to confront its persistent social problems.

"And all these guys were publishing at UNC press," Watson said.

"They were basically - we'd call them liberals in politics today."

From this focus on the issues plaguing the state came a broad new charge for the University.

"A lot of the non-elite students get swept up in that, excited by, interested in it, and recruited by it," Watson said.

Under the leadership of Frank Porter Graham, from 1930 to 1949, UNC worked to reach out to all people of the state.

And from this charge came the progressive character that has defined both UNC and the then-village of Chapel Hill

"And Chapel Hill becomes famous as sort of a Southern beacon of liberalism and intellectualism," Watson said. "And the University's star begins to rise."

And as its reputation grew, so did the campus. Faculty and the student body expanded rapidly between the two World Wars.

UNC earned prestige as a premier university, and administrators throughout the rest of the 20th century took steps to excel the University's standings as an institute of learning and research.

But the ties to the state remained a focus.

During his State of the University address in September, Moeser underscored the need for UNC to become a competitor in the broadening global market.

But in its attempts to expand, the University must not forget its mission of service to the people of North Carolina, Moeser said during the address.

"Carolina is moving forward with tremendous momentum," he said. "Our challenge is to sustain that energy and focus it in the areas that will best serve the people of North Carolina in the future."

While UNC leaders highlight the importance of a strong relationship with North Carolina, many state universities have begun favoring the move toward separation.

Earlier this year Virginia legislators granted the University of Virginia system a greater degree of autonomy. Receiving fewer state dollars, UVa. schools are gradually relying more heavily on other sources - such as tuition.

The threat of a similar funding shift looms threateningly on the horizon for UNC.

A trend of budget cuts in recent years has left state dollars playing a gradually smaller role in UNC's funding scheme.

In the search for funds to fuel UNC's evolving ambitions, leaders have called for stronger relationships with private corporations.

And Carolina North, the University's planned satellite campus, is being labeled the next big step toward that endeavor.

Carolina North has been cited as a key to attracting private corporations, though many opponents of the development fear the effects it will have on the spirit of the University.

Watson said that in yearning for private dollars, the University will begin the move toward training the business leaders of tomorrow.

"The biggest companies and most thoughtful donors are going to say 'what we need the University of North Carolina for is once again to train good leaders, and what we most want from the University is an institution that's giving a really good education.'"

And as the campus celebrates a milestone today, many are confident that in adapting to change, UNC will not abandon its core inspirations.

"Other states - I won't name names - I don't think they have that relationship with their state university," Kapp said.

"That's our mission: we serve North Carolina through our teaching, our research and our service," Kapp continued. "That is something that not every public university will beat on their chest and tell everybody."

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.