The university's teams are nicknamed the "Tar Heels," in reference to the state's eighteenth century prominence as a tar and pitch producer.[168] The nickname's cultural relevance, however, has a complex history that includes anecdotal tales from both the American Civil War and the American Revolution.[168] The mascot is a live Dorset ram named Rameses, a tradition that dates back to 1924, when the team manager brought a ram to the annual game against Virginia Military Institute, inspired by the play of former football player Jack "The Battering Ram" Merrit. The kicker rubbed his head for good luck before a game-winning field goal, and the ram stayed.[169] There is also an anthropomorphic ram mascot who appears at games.[170] The modern Rameses is depicted in a sailor's hat, a reference to a United States Navy flight training program that was attached to the university during World War II.[171]
In August 2018, the university came to national attention after the toppling of Silent Sam, a Confederate monument which had been erected on campus in 1913 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[60] The statue had been dogged by controversy at various points since the 1960s, with critics claiming that the monument invokes memories of racism and slavery. Many critics cited the explicitly racist views espoused in the dedication speech that local industrialist and UNC Trustee Julian Carr gave at the statue's unveiling on June 2, 1913, and the approval with which they had been met by the crowd at the dedication.[61] Shortly before the beginning of the 2018–2019 school year, the Silent Sam was toppled by protestors and damaged, and has been absent from campus ever since.[62] In July 2020, the University's Carr Hall, which was named after Julian Carr, was renamed the "Student Affairs Building."[63] Carr had supported white supremacy and also the Ku Klux Klan.[63]
The campus covers 729 acres (3 km2) of Chapel Hill's downtown area, encompassing the Morehead Planetarium and the many stores and shops located on Franklin Street. Students can participate in over 550 officially recognized student organizations. The student-run newspaper The Daily Tar Heel has won national awards for collegiate media, while the student radio station WXYC provided the world's first internet radio broadcast. UNC Chapel Hill is one of the charter members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which was founded on June 14, 1953. Competing athletically as the Tar Heels, UNC has achieved great success in sports, most notably in men's basketball, women's soccer, and women's field hockey.
The Clef Hangers (also known as the Clefs) are the university's oldest a cappella group, founded by Barry Saunders in 1977.[208][209] The group has since won several Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARAs), including Best Soloist in the song Easy, featured on the 2003 album Breeze. They have won two more CARAs for Best Male Collegiate Songs for My Love on Time Out (2008),[210] and for Ain't Nothing Wrong on Twist (2009).[211] Members have included Brendan James, who graduated in 2002,[212] and Anoop Desai, who graduated in 2008.[209] Since the spring of 2002, the Clef Hangers have sung each year at Commencement. They hold fall and spring concerts, sometimes featuring special guests.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina[10]) is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The flagship of the University of North Carolina system, it is considered to be a Public Ivy, or a public institution which offers an academic experience similar to that of an Ivy League university.[11] After being chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795, making it one of the oldest public universities in the United States. Among the claimants, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the only one to have held classes and graduated students as a public university in the eighteenth century.[12]
The program's first recorded game took place in 1867, when the Tar Heels defeated a Raleigh all-star team, 34-17. Although baseball continued to be played at UNC, there exists a gap in record-keeping during Reconstruction, despite the noted existence of the UNC baseball team. The program's next recorded games were played in 1891. Thereafter, the University sponsored a varsity intercollegiate baseball program on a regular basis from that season onwards.
One of the fiercest rivalries is with Durham's Duke University. Located only eight miles from each other, the schools regularly compete in both athletics and academics. The Carolina-Duke rivalry is most intense, however, in basketball.[181] With a combined eleven national championships in men's basketball, both teams have been frequent contenders for the national championship for the past thirty years. The rivalry has been the focus of several books, including Will Blythe's To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever and was the focus of the HBO documentary Battle for Tobacco Road: Duke vs Carolina.[182] Duke was Carolina's biggest rival from the 1930s until the early 1960s, when Duke's declining athletic program shifted Carolina's rival focus to North Carolina State.
The Yellow Jackets’ 2020-21 season came to a brutal end when ACC Player of the Year Moses Wright had to miss the NCAA Tournament after the team won the ACC Tournament. Wright is gone, as is savvy guard Jose Alvarado, but Josh Pastner returns some quality pieces in guards Mike Devoe and Bubba Parham and forward Jordan Usher. There’s also Top-100 guard Dallan Coleman, who is expected to make an immediate impact in Atlanta. A lack of legitimate size and post depth could derail the Yellow Jackets.
The ACC office did the Tar Heels no favors with three Saturday-Monday turnarounds in a five-week span at the tail end of the schedule. UNC will host N.C. State on Saturday, Jan. 29 before heading to Louisville to play the Cardinals on Monday, Jan. 31. Three weeks later, the Tar Heels will play at Virginia Tech on Saturday, Feb. 19 before hosting Louisville on Monday, Feb. 21. The following week, UNC will travel to Raleigh to face the Wolfpack on Saturday, Feb. 26 before welcoming Syracuse on Monday, Feb. 28.
Since the beginning of intercollegiate athletics at UNC in the late nineteenth century, the school's colors have been blue and white.[190] The colors were chosen years before by the Dialectic (blue) and Philanthropic (white) Societies, the oldest student organization at the university. The school had required participation in one of the clubs, and traditionally the "Di"s were from the western part of North Carolina while the "Phi"s were from the eastern part of the state.[191]
North Carolina's athletic teams are known as the Tar Heels. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sub-level for football), primarily competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports since the 1953–54 season.[162] Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, fencing, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.
The October 22, 2014 release of the Wainstein Report[174] alleged institutionalized academic fraud that involved over 3,100 students and student athletes, over an 18-year period from 1993 to 2011 that began during the final years of the Dean Smith era, challenged "The Carolina Way" image.[175] The report alleged that at least 54 players during the Dean Smith era were enrolled in what came to be known as "paper classes." The report noted that the questionable classes began in the spring of 1993, the year of Smith's final championship, so those grades would not have been entered until after the championship game was played.[176] In response to the allegations of the Wainstein report, the NCAA launched their own investigation and on June 5, 2015[177] the NCAA accused the institution of five major violations including: “two instances of unethical conduct and failure to cooperate“ as well as “unethical conduct and extra benefits related to student-athletes' access to and assistance in the paper courses; unethical conduct by the instructor/counselor for providing impermissible academic assistance to student-athletes; and a failure to monitor and lack of institutional control".[178] In October, 2017, the NCAA issued its findings and concluded "that the only violations in this case are the department chair's and the secretary's failure to cooperate."[178]
Cures and treatments for disease. Innovative technologies. New industries for North Carolina and the world. UNC-Chapel Hill is harnessing the very best of our world and is proud to advance knowledge for this and each generation to come. Carolina ranks fifth in the country for federal research funding among universities, and its faculty members and researchers conduct more than $1.1 billion in research activity each year. Students are encouraged to participate in research opportunities as soon as they start at Carolina.
That same year, the public universities in North Carolina had to share a budget cut of $414 million, of which the Chapel Hill campus lost more than $100 million in 2011.[53] This followed state budget cuts that trimmed university spending by $231 million since 2007; Provost Bruce Carney said more than 130 faculty members have left UNC since 2009.,[54] with poor staff retention.[55] The Board of Trustees for UNC-CH recommended a 15.6 percent increase in tuition, a historically large increase.[54] The budget cuts in 2011 greatly affected the university and set this increased tuition plan in motion[53] and UNC students protested.[56] On February 10, 2012, the UNC Board of Governors approved tuition and fee increases of 8.8 percent for in-state undergraduates across all 16 campuses.[57]
Established in 1979, the Curriculum in Public Policy Analysis was one of the first undergraduate degree programs in public policy, and a charter member of the national Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. It was augmented in 1991 by an interdisciplinary PhD Curriculum in Public Policy Analysis. In 1995 the two curricula were combined and began recruiting their own core faculty. In 2001 the combined curriculum became the present Department of Public Policy.
UNC basketball is in transition as coach Hubert Davis debuts. Will the Tar Heels drop off in the wake of Roy Williams’ retirement? Or are they a Top 10 team even without Dadgum Roy? Riley Davis kicks things off by explaining why he thinks North Carolina will be a Top 10 team. Jamie Shaw then plays the villain and argues against the Tar Heel hype. (Heat Check CBB)
