North Carolina's University

Posted on Jan. 15, 1989

Regrettably, most of us have succumbed to the rankings game. There is no longer just a Top Ten or Top Twenty-five for various sports. We now have such rankings for universities and even schools, departments, and colleges within a university. For the most part, Carolina consistently scores high in such rankings, and we take understandable pride in such recognition. However, such polls, surveys and rankings seldom measure that which makes Carolina so special and distinguishes us from most other institutions.

For nearly two centuries, our University has proudly provided a superb education for North Carolina’s young people, developed leaders for our state, and served the special needs of all the people of North Carolina.

While other state universities may have such goals, it is fair to say, even at the risk of boasting, that the leaders of Carolina have always paid keen attention to the unique relationship between our campus and all North Carolinians. There are many examples.

In the 40’s, with widespread concern about the poor quality of health care in North Carolina, University and state leaders forged an initiative to bring better health care to all the people of North Carolina. That commitment continues today, and we now have in our Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) a model program for providing high quality health care to all regions of our state.

Knowing that effective state and local government officials are critical to delivering needed services to our citizens, the late Albert Coates pioneered our Institute of Government. Thousands of local officials — highway patrolmen, sheriffs, tax collectors, clerks of court, magistrates, district attorneys, and judges — have received superior training and instruction from talented professionals. Like AHEC, the Institute of Government serves as a model for other states.

Not surprisingly, Carolina is playing a leading role in North Carolina’s efforts to improve the quality of public school education. The Principals’ Institute, which gives executive training to North Carolina principals, and the Lyndhurst Fellows Program, designed to attract some of Carolina’s brightest students into public school teaching, are just two examples.

And the list goes on — the Business School’s Executive Programs and Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise, the Highway Safety Research Institute, the Institutes of Environmental Studies, Marine Sciences, Outdoor Drama, and Nutrition, the lineberger Cancer Research Center, the Center for Alcohol Studies — to name only a few.

What drives all these programs is not the recognition they receive for the quality of their research but the genuine desire to serve the people of North Carolina.

As North Carolina’s University, we proudly draw our student body from all one hundred counties. The nation’s tenth largest state with over six million people, North Carolina can boast only five cities with populations exceeding 100,000 and only one of these exceeds 300,000.

With so many small towns, it is not surprising that we North Carolinians are a friendly, open people. We care about each other. We are also an independent group. Remember North Carolina would only sign the Constitution after assurance that the Bill of Rights would be added. And North Carolina joined the Confederacy and seceeded only after Virginia and South Carolina had done so.

Mostly rural and with only modest resources, North Carolinians have always taken a special pride in their University in Chapel Hill. They have sent their sons and daughters here to be educated, usually hoping they would return home and become leaders in their communities as well as in their profession.

These sons and daughters of North Carolina have brought with them eagerness to learn, devotion to their state, and pride in their University.

I have taken this space to share these thoughts because I worry that we may put too much emphasis on rankings. Competition is healthy and rankings are important. We can be proud of our own lofty standings. But it is just as important that we recognize as important that which is not easily measured. It is the special bond that our University has with the people of the state it serves with such distinction that warrants our continuing recognition and pride.

Alumni leaders, University officials, faculty, and students should understand and reflect this very special and unique relationship. This is not as easily done by those who were not students here, or who have not been enriched by living in North Carolina. But even those who come here from other places often recognize that there is something very special about our student body and our alumni. The traditions, shared values and beliefs, and commitment to service have earned the University the sustaining admiration and support of all North Carolinians. We are North Carolina’s University.

Yours at Carolina,

 

 

 

Douglas S. Dibbert ’70