Carolina Alumni's video: Historical Reflections: America s First Public University

James Leloudis ’77 (’89 PhD), associate professor of history, Peter T. Grauer associate dean for Honors Carolina and director of the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence, takes a historical look at UNC and its role as American’s first public university. Carolina is America’s first public university. Make note of where the emphasis falls. For more than two centuries, that word “public” has been the University’s guide star. But its meaning has never been static. The word has been defined and redefined, sometimes radically, as successive generations have rethought the relationship between the University and the larger society that gives it life.