The university's motto is Lux Libertas, Latin for "light and liberty." It was adopted in 1897 at the same time as the new school seal, which included a crest with the words on it. In their minutes approving the new seal, the UNC Board of Trustees noted that the seal (and presumably the motto) was presented by university president Edwin Anderson Alderman.
Located at 410 East Franklin Street next to the President's House, this has been the home of the Center for the Study of the American South since 2007. The house was built in 1887 by university mathematics professor James Lee Love, who lived there with his wife, Julia Spencer Love, and her mother, Cornelia Phillips Spencer. Mrs. Spencer was a well-known writer and university booster. The university bought the house in 1890 and used it to house faculty. In 2003 the house was renovated and expanded with the Hutchins Forum to be the home for the center. The added name honors James A. Hutchins Jr., UNC class of 1937, who worked at the Department of Agriculture on programs to feed children and eliminate hunger.
Date Established: 1887
Date Range: 1887 – Present
The university began building a library before the first brick was laid for the campus. The first book, a copy of sermons distributed by the U.S. Congress to each of the states, was given to the newly established university in 1792 and placed in a school in New Bern until suitable facilities could be built in Chapel Hill.
Through most of the first century of the university, there were three libraries on campus: the University Library, much of which had been purchased by UNC president Joseph Caldwell on a trip to Europe in the 1820s, and the separate libraries of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies. While the University Library languished, the society libraries were where many students turned to find books to support their studies and for general reading. The three libraries were merged in 1885, and the University Library was formally established as a separate unit of the university in 1905.
The first building built to house the University Library was Smith Hall (now historic Playmakers Theatre), which opened in 1851. In an arrangement that was indicative of the size and importance of the library at the time, the building was also used as a ballroom, with movable shelves that could be pushed against the wall to make room for dancers. UNC's first dedicated research library opened in 1907 with support from Andrew Carnegie. The Carnegie Library (later renamed Hill Hall) represented the university's commitment to building a research library to support its growing needs.
The rapid expansion of the university through the twentieth century is mirrored by the continued construction and expansion of library buildings. The landmark Wilson Library (originally known as the University Library) opened in 1929, with additions added to hold more books and archival collections in 1952 and 1977. The university opened a dedicated House Undergraduate Library in 1968 and a new, modern library building, Davis Library, in 1984. After Davis Library opened, Wilson Library was renovated to be house special collections on campus.
The libraries have grown and changed to adapt to the digital age, often leading the way on campus. They began using a computer catalog in 1969 and opened one of the first public computer labs on campus in the 1980s. Documenting the American South, a digital library program started in the mid-1990s, received national recognition for making rare and hard-to-find primary sources about southern history easily accessible online. By the 2010s UNC Libraries was consistently ranked, in number of volumes, as one of the top twenty academic libraries in the country.
In the early 2000s, citing concerns over a campus climate that was not supportive of and often hostile to LGBTQ students, the provost's office convened a Committee on LGBTQ Life. Among the recommendations was the creation of a center to provide services and support and to foster a sense of community for LGBTQ students and staff at Carolina. The center was established in 2003 with a full-time director. The LGBTQ Center holds events and programs, leads Safe Zone training for the campus community, and advocates for LGBTQ students at Carolina.
Lewis Residence Hall opened in 1924, around the same time as nearby Aycock and Graham dorms. The dorm houses around 100 students. It remained an all-male dorm (one of the last remaining on campus) until 1985. In 1987 it underwent an extensive renovation, which included the installation of central air conditioning. It is named for Richard Henry Lewis, a Pitt County native who attended UNC from 1866 until the school closed in 1868. He finished his education in Virginia and Maryland and went on to a successful career in medicine. He worked as a practicing doctor, served as secretary of the North Carolina State Board of Health, and taught at both UNC and the Leonard Medical School at Shaw University in Raleigh. He was a member of the UNC Board of Trustees for thirty-five years.
Date Established: 1922
Date Range: 1922 – Present
As the university enrollment grew in the 1920 and 1930s, the main campus cafeteria in Swain Hall could not keep up with demand. Lenoir Hall was built using Public Works Administration funds during a boom in campus construction in the late 1930s. When the new dining hall opened in January 1940, it was able to seat more than 1,000 students at a time and serve as many as 10,000 meals a day. According to the Daily Tar Heel it was the largest cafeteria of its kind in the country. Lenoir has always been a dining hall but has undergone frequent changes over the years, with significant renovations in 1984, 1997, and 2011.
The most dramatic period in Lenoir Hall's history came in 1969, following a strike by cafeteria workers who were advocating for better wages, back pay, and improved working conditions. After demonstrations led by students in the Black Student Movement drew the attention of Governor Bob Scott, the governor ordered highway patrol troops to campus to assure that Lenoir could open and operate peacefully. There were no documented clashes between students and the highway patrol, but the sight of uniformed guards lining the walkway to Lenoir was one that the university community would not soon forget.
The building is named for William Lenoir, the first chairman of the UNC Board of Trustees. A native of Virginia, Lenoir spend most of his life in North Carolina, working as an educator in eastern North Carolina and later as a surveyor in the western part of the state, near the town that now bears his name. He served in the Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of general. He was a slave owner and a member of the state legislature, where he joined the committee that would become the first board of trustees of the university.
Date Established: 1938
Date Range: 1938 – Present
Carolina's oldest professional school, and the oldest law school in the state, began in 1845 with the hiring of William Horn Battle. A North Carolina Superior Court judge, Battle led the program during its formative years. The program became a school in 1899. It was a charter member of the American Association of Law Schools in 1920 and has been approved by the American Bar Association since 1928.
The program at first had rooms in various buildings, including Old West and South. The school's first building was Smith Hall (now historic Playmakers Theatre) from 1907 to 1923, when Manning Hall was built. The school moved to Van Hecke-Wettach Hall in 1968.
The School of Law has had numerous distinguished alumni, including North Carolina governors, state supreme court justices, and elected representatives. Some 40 percent of active attorneys in the state are UNC—Chapel Hill law school alumni. Among its notable alumni are governors Terry Sanford and James Hunt; civil rights lawyer and activist Julius LeVonne Chambers; Susie Marshall Sharp, the first female chief justice of the state supreme court; and Katherine Robinson Everett, the first woman to argue a case before the North Carolina Supreme Court, which she won.
The law school has on occasion been a target of conservative politicians. Recent examples include the 2015 mandate from the UNC System Board of Governors to close the school's Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity; and in 2017, a vote to bar litigation by the school's Center for Civil Rights. The school established the North Carolina Poverty Research Fund to replace the former, and the latter continues to produce research and analysis to advance civil rights and social justice. The law school, in partnership with the School of Media and Journalism, also hosts the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy.
Date Established: 1845
Date Range: 1845 – Present
The UNC Latinx Center, which opened in new quarters in Abernethy Hall in late 2019, coordinates a number of educational and outreach programs for the Carolina community, including a Latinx Mentoring Program, Latinx Heritage Month, Exitos graduation ceremony, and a Latinx Alumni Reunion. The center was the culmination of an initiative launched by the Carolina Latino/a Collaborative in 2013, although the efforts began in 2007 with a small group of students who began the conversation to provide a space for this growing segment of the student body. The Latinx Center sponsors engagement and outreach programs and provides a space to support Latinx students.
Late Night with Roy is a celebration of the opening of the college basketball season. First held in 2002 by head coach Roy Williams, it follows in the tradition of "midnight madness" events held by other universities on the first day of basketball practice. The celebration usually features prepared skits, dances, and an introduction to that year's basketball team.
Date Established: 2003
Date Range: 2003 – Present
Carolina students began playing lacrosse as a club sport in 1937, gathering enough support to elevate it to a varsity sport in 1949. By the 1970s the UNC—Chapel Hill team was competitive at the national level. The team won national championships in 1981, 1982, 1986, and 1991. While the team was successful, lacrosse still lagged in popularity at Carolina. In 1989 the Daily Tar Heel published "A Southerner's Guide to a Northern Sport" for students who were unfamiliar with the sport and its rules. Carolina began offering women's lacrosse as a varsity sport in 1994. The team quickly found success, making it to their first NCAA Final Four in 1997, and it won its first NCAA championship in 2013. The year 2016 was a high point for lacrosse at UNC—Chapel Hill when both the men's and women's teams won national championships.