by Charly Mann

On March 31, 1962 the residents of Chapel Hill had one thing on their mind, and almost everything else in town was canceled or postponed. The next day at 7 PM in Kenan Stadium the UNC Scholastic Team was going to meet Harvard in the 23rd annual National Championship Academic Bowl. Every seat in the stadium had been sold-out within two hours of the National Academic Council's announcement that the contest would be held in Chapel Hill. Tickets to the event with a face value of $15 (which is the equivalent of $107 today) were being scalped for as much as $100 that very day.

UNC students celebrating on Saturday March 31th, 1962 in honor of the UNC team's appearance in the Academic Championship Bowl the next day

Since the inception of the Academic Bowl in 1939 no southern university had ever made it to the championship. Chapel Hillians were simply ecstatic that their team had gotten this far, and were well aware that the Tarheels had little chance of beating Harvard. The last non-Ivy League school to win the National Academic Championship was the University of California at Berkeley in 1957. Harvard had an incredible team that had won three out the last four championships, and this year's team returned two starters from the previous year's team that had trounced Stanford 330 - 55 in the 1961 final.

1962 UNC National Champion Academic Team
First row: Mark Armstrong, Donald Springen, and Bill Imes
Second Row: Hayward Clayton, William Patterson, George Carson, Charles Heatherly, and Kellis Parker

On Sunday, the day of the championship, even church services were canceled throughout Chapel Hill and most restaurants were closed. Both of the local TV channels, WTVD in Durham and WRAL in Raleigh preempted all their scheduled shows for live newscasts that focused almost exclusively on the match. The national media also swarmed over Chapel Hill, and the Bell Tower parking lot was littered with television trucks. The headlines of that day's New York Times proclaimed "Greatest Brains in College History Compete Today".

Werner Friedrich was the 1962 UNC Academic team coach and also the chairman of the Department of Comparative Literature. He received his PhD at Harvard, the school he coached against in the 1962 National Academic Bowl.

Fans began arriving early for the contest, and by 5 PM Kenan Stadium was packed. The Tar Heels and the Harvard Band performed for more than an hour. At 6:50 PM the national anthem was sung by Frank Sinatra, who had flown in from Las Vegas on his private jet and was staying with Kay Kyser. Next the two teams were introduced. First the defending champion Harvard Crimson team and coach were introduced to polite applause from the partisan crowd. As soon as Art Fleming, the host and inquisitor of the match, began announcing the Tarheel team, the crowd on both sides of the stadium came to their feet and erupted into the loudest cheers and applause I have ever heard in my life. None of the names could be heard above the roar, but the four starters for the UNC team were Donald Springen, Hayward Clayton, George Carson, and Kellis Parker.

At 7:00 a national TV audience joined the event that was carried by NBC. The two teams were seated on a podium on the West side of Kenan Stadium. In the center of the stage was Art Fleming and on the left side was a long table with four chairs where the Tar Heel team was seated. On the right sat the four members of the Harvard team. In front of each team member was a buzzer. The game began with a 20 point question which could be answered by the first team to hit the buzzer indicating they knew the answer. The first question was, "He studied scientific farming under George Geddes several years after his vision recovered from the sumac poisoning he suffered as a youth. After heading the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the war, he became chair of Yosemite property for California where he implemented ideas like the 'parkway.' An outspoken essayist, works like The Cotton Kingdom expressed his abolitionist politics, while his urban designs, often collaborations with Calvert Vaux, were meant to bring nature to the masses. He planned the terrace of the U.S. Capitol, the Stanford Campus, and Jackson Park in Chicago, now for twenty points, name this engineer and landscape architect who remains best known for designing Central Park?" The instant he completed the question Harvard buzzed in and correctly answered "Frederick Law Olmsted." The score was Harvard 20 and UNC O.

UNC students cheering as UNC Academic Team is introduced before championship at Kenan Stadium in 1962

The Next question was, "For 30 points this Englishman discovered Hawaii on his third voyage, and on his first voyage aboard the Endeavor he sailed the entire length of Australia’s eastern coast, which he claimed for Britain and named New South Wales." Again Harvard buzzed first and answered correctly, "James Cook." Harvard was ahead 50 to 0.

The third question was, "Act II of this play features one of the characters remembering his time in Morocco where he had to fend off a child prostitute, while Act IV begins with Dr. Baugh arriving to deliver some morphine and a woman coming to realize that her husband has terminal cancer. One of the central characters repeatedly asks for solid quiet and drinks until he hears a click in his head so that he can forget the death of his best friend, and possible lover, Skipper. Ultimately, the greedy and oddly fertile Mae and Gooper lose out as Big Daddy names the other Pollitt son as his heir. For 30 points, name this 1955 play that revolves around the doomed marriage of Brick and his wife Maggie, a work by Tennessee Williams." As before Harvard buzzed first, but this time they answered incorrectly, saying, "The Long Hot Summer". For an incorrect answer to a 30 point question Harvard lost 15 points. UNC then correctly answered the question with, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", and the score was Harvard 35 and UNC 30. There were sixteen more questions in the first round which lasted thirty minutes. At the end Harvard seemed to have an insurmountable lead with 170 to 55.

The final round did not get off to a good start for UNC. The first question was, "For 30 points, take the number of German Reichs and add the number of French Republics. What is the answer?" This time UNC buzzed first and answered "seven." "Incorrect," Fleming said and UNC was down by 170 to 40. Then Harvard gave the correct answer of "eight," and it became 200 to 40. An embarrassing blowout for the Tarheels seemed inevitable.

The next question was, "For 20 points this was the port city where on September 15th 1950 MacArthur landed troops behind the North Korean lines sending the North Koreans into retreat." UNC again got to the buzzer first and this time answered correctly, "Inchon." Harvard 200 and UNC 60.

Throngs of UNC students heading to Kenan Stadium for the Harvard - UNC National Academic Championship in 1962

The third question was, "The Treaty of Paris ceded this area to the US, and the Continental Congress passed an ordinance in 1787 to set up the area's administration. For 30 points, name this early American territory, which has since been divided into five states and part of a sixth."  This time Harvard answered first and said, "the Northwest Territories." Fleming said this was incorrect, and the Harvard captain shook his head in disbelief. UNC then said "Northwest Territory," which the correct answer. Harvard now led 185 to 90.

For the next 10 minutes UNC tried to make up its deficit, but with less than four minutes remaining the score was Harvard 285 and UNC 190. The next question was, "The ostensible villain of this work is the heir to the estate Coombe Magnon, and he must marry Sophia Grey to ensure that inheritance. The heroine briefly becomes the confidante of Lucy Steele, who had entered into a secret engagement with a man the heroine loves. However, that engagement is broken and the path becomes clear for the two weddings that end the novel in which Colonel Brandon and Edward Ferrars are the grooms. For 25 points, name this novel in which Elinor and Marianne Dashwood represent the title sentiments, a work by Jane Austen." UNC's Kellis Parker seemed to buzz as soon as the last syllable to the question was uttered, and answered correctly, "Sense and Sensibility." Harvard 285 and UNC 215.

The next question was, "For 30 points, what was the name of the first transatlantic passenger steamship?" Several Harvard team members seemed sure of the answer even before the question was complete, but were confused about which member would hit the buzzer. As a result UNC buzzed a couple of seconds later, and correctly answered, "Great Western." Now it was Harvard 285 and UNC 245 with less than two minutes remaining.

UNC students on Franklin Street Chapel Hill in a massive all night celebration of the University of North Carolina's Academic Championship

The next question did not take much time to ask, "Solar cells work on this principle where electrons are ejected from a metal surface upon exposure to electromagnetic radiation. Einstein used Planck’s quantum theory to describe it mathematically. For 30 points name this principle." Instantly a UNC player buzzed and said, "The photoelectric effect." "Correct," said Fleming and UNC now trailed by 10 points with exactly 35 seconds to go.

Every UNC fan was praying that there was time for one more question and answer before time expired. Fleming then said, "For 20 points name the Peruvian city located just to the west of Lima. This city is Peru's largest port." With just three seconds left UNC's Parker buzzed and answered, "Callaco." The final buzzer sounded and Fleming proclaimed, "The University of North Carolina has just become the 1962 National Academic Champion defeating Harvard 295 to 285." At that the crowd erupted and fireworks began shooting off from behind the field house. More than ten thousand fans poured onto the field and rushed the podium. Each of the four Tar Heel Academic Team members were hoisted on the backs of the massive crowd and carried across the field.

Students celebrating inside Kenan Stadium seconds after UNC won the National Academic Championship on April 1, 1962

The victory celebration that night has never been equaled in Chapel Hill. More than 100,000 students, town folks, UNC alumni, and citizens from neighboring communities celebrated on Franklin until 7 AM Monday morning. On Monday all classes were canceled at UNC and Chapel Hill Schools. That afternoon the UNC baseball team even forfeited a game against Wake Forest to signify that academic excellence should be celebrated more than athletic. Over the next year book sales increased more than 200% in Chapel Hill.

by Charly Mann

Getting an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina is very expensive. Today that cost ranges from $120 to $168 thousand dollars for a student who graduates in four years. This includes the yearly tuition which is $5,613 for in state residents and $20,543 for out of state students, as well as fees, food, lodging, books, health insurance, and personal expenses. Since the average student takes 4 1/2 years to graduate from Carolina these costs are probably going to be about 12% higher than this.

Wilson Library opened in 1929, and was the main UNC Library until 1984. Now it is used to hold the University of North Carolina's massive collection of rare books, documents, and photographs.

In 1795 when the University of North Carolina first opened it doors the estimated total cost to get a four year degree was $424. This included a yearly tuition of $20, boarding, food, candles, fire wood, and servant costs.

The price of going to UNC has far outpaced inflation over the last two hundred years, and the question one might ask is:  Is it worth it?

It used to be very few people finished high school, much less attended college, now it is almost a rite of passage. In fact a bachelor's degree today is equivalent in economic value to a high school diploma 50 years ago.

This is New East the home of UNC's most acclaimed school, the Department of City and Regional Planning.  It was originaly a men's dorm and was built in 1861.

Over the last six months I have asked many current UNC undergrads and recent graduates if they thought the money spent to send them to Carolina was worth it. By and large most said it was the intangibles more than the education that made going to UNC valuable to them. Many said it helped them become more mature and well-rounded. They also stated that it was not a priority for them to absorb the information they were being taught, but to simply get good grades. Most of them said they thought the majority of things they were asked to learn would be useless to them in the real world.

It is a fact that many jobs ask prospective employees to provide their level of education, and some even require you to have a college degree. Having a degree from UNC is certainly a positive when applying for certain jobs. At the same time many UNC students I have communicated with told me that little to none of actual education they received in college actually helped them with their job. This was especially true of UNC students with degrees in liberal arts.

Gerrard Hall was built in 1837 as the student chapel. It seats 380 and is now used for speeches and presentations. It was featured in the 1998 Robin Williams movie Patch Adams. 

Recent UNC grads say they believe the current recession has made it difficult for them to find jobs that pay more than $30,000 a year, and many are having difficulty paying their student loans which average about $50,000 among the people I talked to. Two former UNC students even said they wish they had used the money they spent on college to learn a trade like plumbing or becoming a electrician, where they say the pay is more lucrative, and jobs are more secure. Several parents of perspective students have told me they do not believe a liberal arts degree at Carolina is worth the investment. They say in today's job market they will insist their kids get a degree in a field where there are jobs. A career counselor told me that the majority of recruiters that are now coming to campus are looking for students with specialized and technical degrees. Starting salaries for specialized graduates are increasing each year at UNC, while general majors are finding it more difficult to find a job and often have difficulty paying back their student loans. Among the jobs I found among graduates with liberal arts majors were dishwasher, sales clerk, and waitress.

Two UNC coeds trying to get the most from their education, studying in the yard in front of Craig Dorm.

There are now some who say that the next bubble to burst in our fragile economy is the education bubble. They say colleges are no different than many other businesses that have expanded too rapidly, and care more about keeping enrollments high to cover their expenses than providing the best educational preparation for their students. One indication of this are popular majors like psychology. One business recruiter told me an undergraduate degree in that field is not recognized by most employers as something that conveys occupational skills. For someone to be considered occupationally qualified in psychology, he said one must have a minimum of a masters degree. Becoming job qualified in many liberal arts fields means three or four more years of college, often doubling the cost of an education to over $350,000 for a job that will often start at about $40,000 a year. On the other hand, graduates with a four year degree in specialized business and computer science majors often command starting salaries above $50,000, and are making twice that within eight years.

Entrance to the Playmakers Theater at UNC Chapel Hill

I personally believe a UNC education is usually a good thing even if it does no more than advance a student's socialization skills and independence. If it teaches young adults to think smarter and live on their own, then it seems to me the cost is worth it.

by Charly Mann

The highest starting salary for UNC graduates in 1959 went to those with an MBA degree. Their average salary was $437 a month. Today (2010) they average $7850 a month. The next best degree to have was in Math, Physics, or Chemistry. Graduates with these degrees had a medium starting salary of $424. Accounting and Finance majors averaged $340 a month, those in Journalism $321, and Radio and Television $306. Graduates in any major who got a job in the insurance industry had starting salaries around $356 a month, while those who found jobs as a sales representative averaged $307 a month.

UNC students in front of Memorial Hall in the fall of 1958

The total enrollment at UNC for the 1958-1959 school year was just under 7300 students. Of those 1100 were freshman. There were seventeen Negros, as blacks were then then called, attending the university and only one was an undergraduate. Two black women and fourteen black men were enrolled in UNC graduate schools.

The UNC German Club sponsored two large dances for UNC students during the Fall 1958 and Spring 1959 semesters. They were held in Woollen Gym where the UNC basketball games were also played. (It is hard to imagine huge dances being held on the floor of the Dean Smith Center today.) Even though the new rock n' roll  music was already very popular among young people, the music at these dances was from an era almost two decades earlier called Big Band music. The band shown above the photo of dancers is the Woody Herman Orchestra, and they played at the first German dance of the year.

There was a discrimination problem at UNC in 1959, but it was not a black and white problem, since most blacks were not even allowed to enroll in UNC at that time. The issue was against Jews. Beginning in the early 1950s all applicants to UNC had to state their religious preference in their admission form. The office of Student Affairs then made a list of UNC freshman and placed a letter J by the name of each Jewish student. In 1959 21 of the 24 UNC fraternities did not allow Jewish members. This list  was given to all the fraternities so that they would not make the mistake of asking a Jewish student to pledge. Many of the campus fraternities had rules in their bylaws against accepting non-Christian or non-white members.

UNC Seniors Class of 1959 
Top row from left to right:
Emily Louise Stafford, Ronald Stalling, Susan Stanford
Margaret Rose Starnes, Larry Adams Stephenson, Harold Edward Stessel
James Timothy Stevens, Catherine Jean Stewart, Julia Ann Stokes
Richard Gabriel Stone Jr., Robert T. Story, Isabella Blanton Strait

Student housing was a problem that year. In the beginning of the fall semester thirty students had to sleep in the basement of Cobb Dorm, and even students on the UNC football team, who usually received preferential housing, did not get permanent rooms until October. The University asked residents of Chapel Hill to rent rooms in their houses to relieve the shortage of space. The most severe problem was for married students who were then housed in Victory Village south of  UNC Memorial Hospital. Victory Village only had about 125 units available, and there were at least four times that number of married students. While there were other apartmenst avialable to rent in Chapel Hill , most notably in Glen Lennox, the rent on Victory Village apartments was much less and the units were furnished.

On the left is, the then unknown by most Chapel Hillian’s, 1959 UNC assistant basketball coach Dean Smith. On the right is Danny Lotz who was captain of the 1959 basketball team which was ranked #1 during the season, but lost in the early round of the NCAA championship tournament to an unheralded and much shorter Navy team.

There was a major breakthrough for the sexes at UNC in early 1959. For the first time coeds were allowed to visit the social rooms in most men's dormitories on the weekends.

1959 UNC coed Dede Devere dressed in the fashion for women on campus

by Charly Mann

It is said that the greatest generation of Americans were born in the 1920s. They endured the hardships of the Great Depression, died and suffered the horrors of the Second World War, and then created the prosperity that made the United States the dominant and wealthiest country in the world. The generation that came after them was born between 1933 and 1945. They are called the Silent Generation.

UNC students from the Silent Generation having a great time at a slumber party in 1956

I was seven when the UNC Class of 1956, which was part of the Silent Generation, graduated. 1956 is the first year of my life I have a clear memory of. These men and women are all now at least 75 years old. In 1956 I thought of someone who was 60, like my grandmother, was old, and surely believed someone who was 75 was ancient.

Love was often in the air among UNC students in 1956

Today many members of the UNC Class of 1956 are still with us, and I now reflect on what their legacy is to us. During their days as students in Chapel Hill they were serenely uninvolved in social issues or politics. Their focus was on getting the education necessary to secure a good job and often finding a compatible spouse. This was a great time to be alive. The economy was robust and there were no wars that Americans had to fight and die in. Poverty and racial inequality were part of the American landscape, but these UNC students who came from largely middle and upper class families were largely unaware of these issues. These problems simply were not discussed very often by the mainstream media, and certainly were not subjects of the movies, television, or music they were watching and listening to. As a result this generation was the last group of Americans to accept, almost without question, traditional American values.

These are UNC students in 1956 enjoying Hogan's Lake in Chapel Hill. This was an extremely popular spot for students and other Chapel Hillians to enjoy in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. Students enjoyed drinking beer and getting close to their sweetheart here. There were even cows that roamed freely around the lake.

Humans do not grow old chronologically. We grow unevenly. Even at 75 we can be mature in some areas and childish in others. While dementia is more likely to come to us than wisdom as we age, I now know several members of this class who often inspire me. Each one of them has a remarkable strength of character and a purpose to their life.

A romantic moon on a cold winter night over UNC's Wilson Library in 1956

While almost all the members of the Greatest Generation are no longer with us, the Silent Generation are still around in large numbers. They knew the generation that preceded them better than any of us. They also were the guardians of the entire Baby Boom generation. They are the bridge between these powerful and influential groups. They have seen the limitations and hypocrisies of both, and many of them have synthesized that knowledge into a common sense and wisdom that is valuable for all of us to know.

UNC Class of 1956 Senior Photos
First Row: Mary Ruth Morse Silliphant, Daniel Shiver Sylvia Jr., Margaret Joan Sinclair, Second Row: Jane Kirksey Sink, John Frederic Sipp, Oren Scott Skinner, Third Row: Karey Lyerly Sledge, Clyde Smith Jr., Miriam Marcia Smith, Fourth Row: Sherwood H. Smith Jr., Wilbur Ritchie Smith Jr., Raymond Fletcher Snipes

by Charly Mann

1969 was the final year of a tumultuous decade in Chapel Hill history. While it was the few that got the fame and notoriety, it was the many that were the fabric, heart and soul of this great class.

Typical student attire and socialization between the sexes at UNC in 1969.

There were more than 12,000 students enrolled at UNC that year, but it was the five stars on that year's top ten basketball team and less than 200 anti-war and social activists, like myself, who got the media attention then and are highlighted in today's history of that year. In reality, the majority of the more than 2,000 seniors that year were primarily politically and socially conservative and were focused on getting an education that would lead to a career. A poll conducted by the Daily Tar Heel showed Richard Nixon and George Wallace had been the top choices of UNC students in the 1968 presidential election. And while most students enjoyed the music of 60s bands like Rolling Stones and the Beatles, only a handful of students emulated their bohemian clothing style or long-haired look. Male students' standard attire was khaki pants and button down Oxford shirts with loafers. Most coeds wore dresses or a skirt and blouse. It was not the hippie look that most associate with the 1960s that predominated Chapel Hill then but the frat look, and there were more than half a dozen clothing stores that catered to this style on Franklin Street.

This is the UNC Kappa Alpha fraternity with girlfriends decked out in Confederate army uniforms. They are honoring Old South Day which celebrates the virtues of the South before the Civil War.

The UNC Black Student Movement (BSM) was a new organization on the UNC campus in 1968 and 1969. There were still few black students on campus then, and most black students felt socially isolated and segregated from much of campus life. This is Preston Dobbins, UNC Class of 1969,  who was one of the founders of this organization.

To relax from the hours of classes and study, the main distraction was beer consumption which was enjoyed, often to great excess, by most members of the student body. The bigger difference at UNC between 1959 and 1969 was sex, with birth control pills becoming popular among UNC coeds, easy access to condoms throughout town, and little stigma or embarrassment among the males buying them (often in large quantities). When I spoke to students who attended UNC before 1965 only a handful ever admitted having a sexual relationship and that was primarily with a prostitute. By 1969 the number of UNC students reporting having sexual relationships while at UNC were 60% for men and 55% for coeds. 

Playboy was the most popular magazine among male UNC students in 1969. It was portrayed as sophisticated and intellectual with its well-written articles. In truth it was bought for the nude pictures of their "girl next door" playmates as this 1969 UNC dorm room photo demonstrates.

UNC Seniors Class of 1969
Top Row: Rose Little Grantham, Temple Grassi, Reginald Ogburn Graves, Nancy Louise Grayson
Row Two: Samuel Toler Greathouse, Jesse Franklin Green, Stephen Neil Greenberg, Carolyn Lois Greene
Row Three: Rebecca Evelyn Greene, Richard Harlee Greene, Mary Maxwell Gregg, Don Nelson Gregson,
Row Four: James Rowland Griffin Jr, Frank John Griffith Jr, Dorcas Corneilia Grigg, Sidney Ray Grimes Jr
Row Five: Steven Howard Grossman, Gregory Kent Grove, Richard Arthur Grubar, Patricia Elaine Guarino

UNC Student on phone in UNC dorm. There were no phones in the rooms, nor cell phones. As many as forty students shared a single hall phone in 1969.

In ancient times like 1969, before the cell phone and Internet, students spent a lot more time socializing. In those days almost everything was real, and little was virtual. While the technology of today is great for finding information or connecting with faceless people, in those days you learned to reach out to other human beings. Politeness was commonplace and people were much more energetic. Doing research for a class paper was much more difficult and students spent much of their time in the library. Today with a couple of "Copy" and "Paste" commands on the computer it is easy for students to plagiarize a composition on almost any subject.

1969 UNC coeds spending free time together before the Internet Age

by Charly Mann

People often reminisce about how things used to be when they were young. Unfortunately, most of us see the past through rose colored glasses, and the way we remember things are not really how they were. Throughout most of its history the favorite extracurricular activity among University of North Carolina students has been pairing up with members of the opposite sex. In the 1950's this ritual was called dating, and, though challenging, it worked exceptionally well for finding romantic relationships for most students.

 
UNC fraternity party late 1950's. There were usually plenty of alcoholic drinks, live music, and lots of beautiful sorority sisters at these frequent events.

In 1956, I was seven, and not particularly interested in finding a girlfriend, but I was curious about why so many students I saw seemed to enjoy holding hands or sitting very close to members of the opposite sex. My father was a math professor and often had graduate students he advised or gifted undergraduate math majors over for dinner. My passion has always been asking questions and starting that year I often asked these students about this behavior. By 1959, I had become an expert on the dating rituals at UNC.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students dating in late spring of 1957

In 1956 the enrollment at UNC was at an all-time high of 6,500 students. Of that number, only 1,000 were women, and they were only juniors and seniors. At the time, UNC did not admit freshmen and sophomore women. The 5.5-to-1 ratio of men to women made finding a female difficult for UNC male students. For freshmen and sophomore men it was almost impossible because the coeds would only go out with upper classmen. That would seem to leave only local town girls for the 4,000 unlucky male students, but in those days these girls were not particularly desirable by UNC students. Instead the "happy hunting ground" for UNC men was the three women's colleges in Raleigh, Peace, Meredith, and St Mary's, and Women's College in Greensboro (which is now known as UNC Greensboro). During the first few weeks of each school year dormitories at these women's schools often invited an entire dorm of UNC men over for a social mixer.

In the 1950's it was often said "all roads in Chapel Hill lead to Greensboro... or Meredith (College in Raleigh)"

Since NC State men often competed with their UNC rivals for the attention of the girls at the three Raleigh women's colleges, Greensboro became the favorite destination for UNC students who were often heard to say "all roads in Chapel Hill lead to Greensboro." In those days, that meant an almost two hour drive on the poorly maintained two-lane Highway 54 which went through Mebane, and then on to Burlington, before reaching Greensboro. Interstate 40 and 85 had yet to be built. This was also a time when few students had a car. Just having a jalopy (meaning a beat-up old car) would make you very popular on campus in the 50's. Freshmen especially had it hard starting in 1956 because UNC mandated they could not have cars. If one could not bum a ride with a friend to WC, as Women's College in Greensboro was usually called, students often took to the sides of the road to hitch hike over there (hitch-hiking remained a popular means for students to get around the state until the late 1960's).

Near midnight at a female dorm at WC (now called UNC Greensboro), a visiting UNC student has fallen asleep next to his dreaming date of the evening

More often than not Carolina men headed to Greensboro without even securing a date. A primary reason for this was that it was all but impossible to just pick a phone and call the girl you knew at WC or one of Raleigh colleges. It was not until 1956 that dorms at UNC even got telephones, and then it was one for an entire floor. The women's dorms at the girls' campuses often only had a single phone at what was known as the reception room where visitors would come to meet and spent time with their "dates." The trick for finding a girl if you had not arranged a date was simply to get to the women's dorm and go into the reception area looking lonely and forlorn and ask the first girl you met if there was an unattached young girl who might like some company. Usually an available could be found who would like the company of a Tarheel lad. On the weekends men could stay in the reception areas of these women's dorms until midnight. This meant a late ride home for young men who were physically exhausted but high on hormones on a very dark road. There were often serious and fatal accidents involving these young men when returning to town.

UNC Phi Kappa Sigma men with their girlfiends late 1950's

For those wanting to find female companionship without leaving Chapel Hill the best solution was usually to join a fraternity. UNC fraternities often held parties with UNC sororities, and there always seemed to be an even distribution of the sexes at these get-togethers. These parties were usually loosely chaperoned and had plenty of alcohol and live music which made for more intimacy. If you were not in a fraternity, the best place on campus to get a date was Wilson Library. The reserve books reading room was often called the "date bureau". There, male students would sit down to study at one of the long tables near a coed they were interested in. After an hour of "focusing" on course work they would look up and introduce themselves, and then suggest they go over to the nearby Pine Room snack bar below Lenoir Hall for a bite to eat

Two UNC students in Reserve Reading Room at Wilson library making a first date which would lead to a long and happy marriage

Classroom dating was more casual and usually meant asking a girl to have a coke and sandwich at Y-Court after classes. The 50's were still a time when far fewer women went to college than men, and for many men that meant importing their former high school sweetheart to Chapel Hill on the weekends. Most long term relationships in the 1950's at UNC started when people met in extracurricular groups that included both male and female members, including religious organizations, student publications (The Daily Tar Heel and The Yackety-Yak), student government, and musical groups such as choir and the Tarheel Marching Band. Common interests, then as now, produce couples who have the happiest and longest marriages.

Y-Court on the UNC campus late 1950s. During ten minute breaks between classes students would have a coke or coffee, pet one of the campus dogs, or have a short date with one of their classmates.