UNC-Chapel Hill's admissions process is "most selective" according to U.S. News & World Report.[106] State law requires that the percentage of in-state students per freshman class be at least 82%, making out-of-state admissions particularly selective. For freshmen entering Fall 2019, 9,610 were accepted out of 44,859 applicants, a 21% acceptance rate, and 4,183 enrolled.[107] Women constituted 61% of the incoming class; men 39%.[107]
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.
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.
UNC-Chapel Hill offers 71 bachelor's, 107 master's and 74 doctoral degree programs.[94] The university enrolls more than 28,000 students from all 100 North Carolina counties, the other 49 states, and 47 other countries. It is the third largest university in North Carolina, just behind North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in enrollment. State law requires that the percentage of students from North Carolina in each freshman class meet or exceed 82%.[95] The student body consists of 17,981 undergraduate students and 10,935 graduate and professional students (as of Fall 2009).[96] Racial and ethnic minorities comprise 30.8% of UNC-Chapel Hill's undergraduate population as of 2010[97] and applications from international students have more than doubled in the last five years (from 702 in 2004 to 1,629 in 2009).[98] Eighty-nine percent of enrolling first year students in 2009 reported a GPA of 4.0 or higher on a weighted 4.0 scale.[99] UNC-Chapel Hill students are strong competitors for national and international scholarships. The most popular majors at UNC-Chapel Hill are biology, business administration, psychology, media and journalism, and political science.[99] UNC-Chapel Hill also offers 300 study abroad programs in 70 countries.[100]
In 1921, the University of North Carolina became a founding member of the Southern Conference. Bunny Hearn became head coach of the Tar Heel baseball program in 1932, serving in that capacity for the next 15 years. The Tar Heels would win six Southern Conference baseball titles during the Hearn era, as well as two wartime Ration League titles in 1943 and 1945. In 1947, Hearn suffered a stroke and chose to relinquish his head coaching duties. Walter Rabb would thereafter take over as head coach of the Tar Heel baseball program, though Hearn remained as a coach at North Carolina for another ten years.
The athletic teams at the university are supported by The Marching Tar Heels, the university's marching band. The entire 275-member volunteer band is present at every home football game, and smaller pep bands play at all home basketball games. Each member of the band is also required to play in at least one of five pep bands that play at athletic events of the 26 other sports.[214]
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a leading global public research university, preparing a diverse student body to become creators, explorers, innovators, and leaders in NC, throughout the nation, and around the world. Carolina’s nationally recognized teaching, groundbreaking research, and dedication to public service continue a legacy that began when the University was chartered in 1789 and opened to students four years later. As the nation’s first public university, Carolina is committed to and is a leader in providing access to a high-quality, affordable education to students from all backgrounds.
The Davis Library, situated near the Pit, is the main library and the largest academic facility and state-owned building in North Carolina.[86] It was named after North Carolina philanthropist Walter Royal Davis and opened on February 6, 1984. The first book checked out of Davis Library was George Orwell's 1984.[116] The R.B. House Undergraduate Library is located between the Pit area and Wilson Library. It is named after Robert B. House, the Chancellor of UNC from 1945 to 1957, and opened in 1968.[117] In 2001, the R.B. House Undergraduate Library underwent a $9.9 million renovation that modernized the furnishings, equipment, and infrastructure of the building.[118] Prior to the construction of Davis, Wilson Library was the university's main library, but now Wilson hosts special events and houses special collections, rare books, and temporary exhibits.[119]
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]
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At the undergraduate level, all students must fulfill a number of general education requirements as part of the Making Connections curriculum, which was introduced in 2006.[101] English, social science, history, foreign language, mathematics, and natural science courses are required of all students, ensuring that they receive a broad liberal arts education.[102] The university also offers a wide range of first year seminars for incoming freshmen.[103] After their second year, students move on to the College of Arts and Sciences, or choose an undergraduate professional school program within the schools of medicine, nursing, business, education, pharmacy, information and library science, public health, or media and journalism.[104] Undergraduates are held to an eight-semester limit of study.[105]
Notable leaders of the university include the 26th Governor of North Carolina, David Lowry Swain (president 1835–1868); and Edwin Anderson Alderman (1896–1900), who was also president of Tulane University and the University of Virginia.[66] On December 13, 2019 the UNC System Board of Governors unanimously voted to name Kevin Guskiewicz the university's 12th chancellor.[67]
Student government at Carolina is composed of an executive branch headed by the student body president, a legislative branch composed of a student-elected student congress, and a judicial branch which includes the honor court and student supreme court.[221] The Judicial Reform Committee created the Instrument of Student Judicial Governance, which outlined the current Honor Code and its means for enforcement in 1974.[222] Currently, Carolina boasts one of the only student-run judicial systems in the nation. All academic and most conduct violations are handled by the student-run Honor System. Prior to that time, the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies along with other campus organizations supported student concerns.[223]
Chase Hall was originally built in 1965 to offer South Campus dining options and honor former UNC President Harry Woodburn Chase, who served from 1919 to 1930. In 2005, the building was torn down to make way for the Student and Academic Services buildings, and was rebuilt north of the original location as the Rams Head Center (with the inner dining hall officially titled Chase Dining Hall). Due to students nicknaming the dining hall Rams Head, the University officially reinstated Chase Hall as the building name in March 2017. It includes the Chase Dining Hall, the Rams Head Market, and a conference room called the "Blue Zone".[225] Chase Dining Hall seats 1,300 people and has a capacity for serving 10,000 meals per day.[226] It continues to offer more food service options to the students living on south campus, and features extended hours including the 9 pm – 12 am period referred to as "Late Night".[227]
The University of North Carolina men's basketball team will begin Atlantic Coast Conference play December 5 at Georgia Tech in the first regular-season ACC game for first-year UNC head coach Hubert Davis. Carolina's ACC opener will come in its eighth regular-season game, four days after the Tar Heels host Michigan in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. (GoHeels.com)
