"The University is seeking to serve the public in North Carolina and prepare people to serve the public in professional careers," said John Sanders, former director of UNC's Institute of Government and student body president in the early 1950s. "It was less often articulated in the past, but that mission was there then and it still is now."
Still, UNC has changed since Sanders was an undergraduate and law student from 1947 to 1954.
A half-century ago, there were only about 7,000 students, most of whom were white men.
There were no black students until the early 1950s, and women usually were not admitted until their junior year, Sanders said.
The campus was also physically compact: All that existed past Kenan Stadium was a smaller version of today's hospital. "The campus is much more extensive in its spread now," he said.
Joe Ferrell, a professor of public law and government and secretary of the faculty, said classes were held Monday through Saturday when he started at UNC as a freshman in 1956, and the UNC Board of Trustees required every freshman to take an 8 a.m. class on Saturdays.
"The University was a considerably smaller, less complicated place," said Jonathan Howes, special assistant to Chancellor James Moeser.
Howes started graduate school at UNC in 1959 and served as the mayor of Chapel Hill from 1987 to 1991. "By any measure, I think Chapel Hill and the University are better places to live now," he said.
Sanders said that when he was student body president, the University faced racial integration and fought for greater academic freedom. "The issues manifest themselves in different ways now, but consistencies need to be taken note of, too," he said.
While town-gown relations are a hot topic as University and local officials wrangle over development plans including those for Carolina North, the balance between UNC and Chapel Hill has always been a focus, Howes said.
But relations are more challenging now, even though many of the issues are the same, he said. "The primary issues on everybody's minds had to do with growth. But it was almost trivial compared to the kind of growth we see today."
The path of history
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On Oct. 12, 1793, founders laid the cornerstone of Old East on a heavily wooded site marked only by a small Anglican chapel and a dusty avenue that would later become Franklin Street. The nation's first state university now occupies a 729-acre central campus.
William R. Davie, an N.C. legislator and trustee, took the lead in establishing UNC and has been called the "Father of the University."
His honor lives on in UNC's most famous tree, a tulip poplar first mentioned in 1818. Davie Poplar still stands on North Campus, supported by cables and a trunk full of cement.
Old East was the first - and for two years, the only - campus building, and the Old Well was the sole source of water for students.
The first student, Hinton James of New Hanover County, arrived in February 1795, a month after the University opened.
During the Civil War, UNC was one of few southern institutions to remain open; it closed only during Reconstruction from 1870 until 1875. During the 20th century, UNC grew rapidly, particularly during the Great Depression, when it received federal funding to create jobs.
Achievements such as installing one of the first large computer systems at a university and building Davis Library, the largest academic facility and state building in North Carolina, illustrate UNC's shift from a focus on the liberal arts to an emphasis on research.
"Humanities have lost some of the prominence they had when I was a student here, but these things tend to go in cycles," Ferrell said.
'A great tradition'
In 1961, a U.S. president stood in Kenan Stadium aside University leaders and gave a 14-minute speech that wasn't the foreign policy address anticipated by students.
Kennedy touched on clashing world powers and aims for peace, but he spent much of his talk touting UNC to the assembled students.
"This is a great institution, with a great tradition, and with devoted alumni, and with the support of the people of this State," he said. "Its establishment and continued functioning, like that of all great universities, has required great sacrifices by the people of North Carolina."
This year's University Day showcases an institution that has broadened its mission to serve the people of the state and beyond.
"I think the University saw itself more as a leading institution in the South," Ferrell said.
"Our horizons have lifted, and now it sees itself as a leading national, even international, university."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
