History & Lore

16 Apr: Civil War

When North Carolina joined other southern states and seceded from the United States in May 1861, university president David Lowry…

16 Apr: Cake Race

In the 1920s students began an annual tradition of running a cross-country race around the campus, with the winners receiving…

16 Apr: Building names

Most campus buildings, along with some schools, units, and physical spaces, have a namesake. While the mechanism for selecting people…

Boxing_973

16 Apr: Boxing

Boxing was a popular varsity and intramural sport for a few decades in the early twentieth century. It began informally…

16 Apr: Book Exchange

The Book Exchange was a university-operated campus store that opened in 1915 after students and faculty complained about textbook prices…

BlueJeansDay_973

16 Apr: Blue Jeans Day

In the 1980s and early 1990s, as part of Gay Awareness Week on campus, the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association…

16 Apr: Benefactors

Even though the University of North Carolina has always been a public university, state financial support has varied greatly over…

BeatDookParade_973

16 Apr: Beat Dook Parade

The practice of misspelling the name of UNC—Chapel Hill's rival as "Dook" probably began in the 1930s, when "Beat Dook"…