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]
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]
The historic Playmakers Theatre is located on Cameron Avenue between McCorkle Place and Polk Place. It was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, the same architect who renovated the northern façade of Old East in 1844.[90] The east-facing building was completed in 1851 and initially served as a library and as a ballroom. It was originally named Smith Hall after North Carolina Governor General Benjamin Smith, who was a special aide to George Washington during the American Revolutionary War and was an early benefactor to the university.[91] When the library moved to Hill Hall in 1907, the School of Law occupied Smith Hall until 1923. In 1925, the structure was renovated and used as a stage by the university theater group, the Carolina Playmakers. It has remained a theater to the present day. Louis Round Wilson wrote in 1957 that Playmakers Theatre is the "architectural gem of the campus."[92] Playmakers Theatre was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.[93] Today, the building is a venue for student drama productions, concerts, and events sponsored by academic departments.
There was a mass exodus out of Jeff Capel’s program, starting with standout forward Justin Champagnie, who turned pro, and continuing with four transfers, headlined by guards Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney. Texas Tech transfer Jamarius Burton and Femi Odukale will be expected to handle the ball this season, while a trio of post transfers, including top JuCo forward Chris Payton, will be counted on to provide the Panthers with options in the paint.
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.
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]
The student-run newspaper The Daily Tar Heel is ranked highly by The Princeton Review,[200] and received the 2004–5 National Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press.[201] Founded in 1977, WXYC 89.3 FM is UNC-Chapel Hill's student radio station that broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Programming is left up to student DJs. WXYC typically plays little heard music from a wide range of genres and eras. On November 7, 1994, WXYC became the first radio station in the world to broadcast its signal over the internet.[202][203] A student-run television station, STV, airs on the campus cable and throughout the Chapel Hill Time Warner Cable system.[204] Founded in 1948 as successor to the Carolina Magazine,[205] the Carolina Quarterly, edited by graduate students, has published the works of numerous authors, including Wendell Berry, Raymond Carver, Don DeLillo, Annie Dillard, Joyce Carol Oates, and John Edgar Wideman. Works appearing in the Quarterly have been anthologized in Best American Short Stories and New Stories from the South[206] and have won the Pushcart and O. Henry Prizes.[207]
Most players Brady Manek’s age move on from college basketball after four years. If this wasn’t the age of NCAA pandemic rules, he would have left with only frustrating March memories. The 23-year-old sharpshooter never got past the first weekend of the NCAA tournament at Oklahoma, and he saw the opportunity at UNC as a chance to change that. (Tar Heel Tribune)
