Entries

Invisible University of North Carolina

In the fall of 1970 graduate student Nyle Frank started the Invisible University of North Carolina. The (very) informal "invisible university" offered alternative classes in the style of 1960s teach-ins. Anyone interested could sign up to take a class, or to teach one. The first course, taught by campus police chief Arthur Beaumont, was called Cooperation between the Fuzz and the Fuzzies. Other courses included graffiti interpretation and pumpkin carving. Frank, a native of Los Angeles, was a well-known figure on campus in the early 1970s. He was easily recognizable, wearing elaborate, colorful clothing and his distinctive "goastache" (half mustache, half goatee). Not satisfied with just an invisible university, in December 1970 Frank was crowned King of the Invisible Universe in a three-and-a-half hour ceremony in the Pit, attended by more than 2,000 students.

Date Established: 1970

Date Range: 1970 –
1972

Intimate Bookshop

Although it no longer exists, the Intimate Bookshop lives on in Chapel Hill's reputation for creative writing and independent thinking, both of which were nurtured throughout the twentieth century at the Intimate by Carolina faculty and students. The bookshop began in 1931 when Carolina student Milton "Ab" Abernethy set up shop in his boarding house room and invited people to explore the world of books and literature. Abernethy had also just started a literary magazine called Contempo with his fellow student and friend Anthony Buttitta. That endeavor survived only three years but introduced the work of a number of influential writers and thinkers to the small college town.

The bookshop, however, continued. In 1933 it moved into its first Franklin Street location The store quickly became the center for radical activity and gatherings, in part because of the printing press in the back, where Abernethy printed Contempo and materials for radical campus organizations.

In 1964 Wallace Kuralt and his wife, Brenda, bought the store. During their tenure the Franklin Street store thrived, competing with the campus textbook store and expanding its selections to better serve a general audience. The Kuralts eventually opened nine more stores around the state and in Atlanta. A fire decimated the Chapel Hill store in 1992. The Kuralts rebuilt, adding space and special touches such as squeaky floorboards so that it seemed like the old familiar store. The growth of chain bookstores in the 1990s eventually forced Kuralt to close all of the Intimate stores, including the Franklin Street location in 1998.

Date Established: 1930

Date Range: 1930 –
1998

Internet

The university entered the age of networked computing as early as 1966 as a partner in the Triangle University Computation Center in Research Triangle Park, which linked computers at UNC—Chapel Hill, N.C. State, and Duke. In 1984 the university joined a computer network sponsored by the Association of American University Students to facilitate communication between member universities. By 1991 the university was offering e-mail as a service to campus users. To get access, students and faculty had to go to Phillips Hall and sign up. They received a thirty-eight-page manual explaining how to use e-mail. For faculty and staff who wanted to stay in touch but were dubious about the new service, the university provided "Papermail," which would print e-mails and send them through the campus mail. By 1993 over 1,000 students signed up for e-mail in a single month. UNC—Chapel Hill launched its first website in the mid-1990s and began the processing of moving more and more information and services online.