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. 

Tweet