A Bicentennial Year

Posted on Oct. 1, 1993

This is a very special fall for our University, for Chapel Hill and for all North Carolinians who take pride in their state-owned university — the nation’s oldest public university.

While the pageantry and excitement of Kenan Stadium is already capturing many of us, all eyes are focused on the official opening ceremonies, Oct. 11-12, of the Bicentennial Observance. Despite controversies over faculty salaries, the siting of the black cultural center, tenure, the emphasis on teaching vs. research, let us all celebrate the majestic history and exciting future of our University.

The legacy of The University of North Carolina is a history of our state, a distinguished history of which all North Carolinians and Carolina alumni can and should be proud. It bears repeating that no other state university in America devotes as much of its resources to essential public service as does our University. As Edward Kidder Graham (1898) once observed, “The boundaries of The University of North Carolina are coterminus with the state.”

Your personal participation in Carolina’s Bicentennial is an opportunity that you should not miss. It is an opportunity for you, your family, your friends and your community both to recall this University’s great heritage and to anticipate our exciting future.

Participation in the University’s Bicentennial does not require you to come to Chapel Hill, though we certainly hope you will. Our Bicentennial Speakers Program will bring 75 of Carolina’s most engaging faculty to civic clubs across North Carolina. Similarly, Bicentennial Seminars will be held across North Carolina and in selected cities outside North Carolina. The local Area Health Education Centers will hold open houses in the communities in which they are located, and the UNC Center for Public Television will broadcast a UNC documentary.

Each of us in Chapel Hill hopes that you will return to our campus for the Opening Ceremonies on Oct. 11-12, a University-wide Bicentennial Open House on April 9, and the Bicentennial Finale, which is Commencement, on May 15.

This academic year provides Carolina alumni and friends an opportunity to reflect upon our entire University community, to appreciate our University’s complexity and to recognize the values, traditions and history that bind us together.

The University of North Carolina remains the most respected institution our state has created, nourished and sustained. It diminishes none of the other campuses within the UNC System to say that as our campus’ light shines brightly, this light shines across North Carolina and strengthens the entire UNC System. Let our goal these next several months be to not merely reflect upon our proud heritage, but to look ahead to the challenges and the promise of tomorrow and to reconnect with all the people of North Carolina by telling our story.

Our University is known for excellence. It is known for its sustained commitment to service. We proudly celebrate inspired classroom teaching and the leadership our alumni provide to their communities and their professions.

Celebrating the Bicentennial of the oldest public university in the nation provides us a glorious opportunity. Whether we fully exploit this opportunity rests not only on those of us who are privileged to work in Chapel Hill, but also upon all of Carolina’s thousands of alumni and friends. Won’t you join us? Let the academic year, 1993-94, provide you with the occasion to think again about how fortunate we are to continue to enjoy this priceless gem.

Yours at Carolina,

 

 

 

Douglas S. Dibbert ’70