UNC is the university of the people. The people should have a say | Opinion

If you’ve ever watched a Tar Heel basketball game on TV, you’ve undoubtedly heard Charles Kuralt’s sonorous voice.

“What is it that binds us to this place as to no other?” he asks, as the camera swoops through scenes of the Old Well and the Bell Tower. Then it reaches the classic finish: “No, our love for this place is based on the fact that it is, as it was meant to be, the University of the people.”

It’s a great line because it’s true. But despite its ubiquity, too many people have forgotten what it means.

A public university is not a private campus with a state subsidy, but an institution with a vital civic job. Not to create an insular world unto itself, but to educate a rising generation for life in a self-governing state.

That truth is clearly missing in the way we are talking about UNC right now. Over the past few months, the UNC system has taken a number of steps that have drawn significant pushback based on a faulty philosophy of public higher education.

First, the system has adopted a regulation that treats course syllabi as public records and requires they be posted on a publicly available online platform. Then the UNC System Board of Governors approved a definition of academic freedom that says the freedom is not “absolute” and must be paired with responsibility.

A lot of professors and liberal advocates are angry about both. They see a political project and a “conservative makeover.” They worry that both new policies will be used as a selective cudgel when the wrong person says the wrong thing.

The argument is often framed as if the General Assembly is some outside force imposing itself on a fragile academic ecosystem. That’s a clear category error.

The legislature is not a stranger at the gate. It is the steward of the institution. The university is one of the state’s largest investments, and it sits at the center of North Carolina’s workforce, innovation, and civic life. The General Assembly represents the people, so of course it is involved. That is what public ownership looks like.

Of course, stewardship is not conquest. Lawmakers should not treat UNC like a liberal bastion to be subdued. If legislators govern the university with a chip on their shoulder, they won’t reform it. And right now, the university system is in desperate need of reform.

What is a university for?

Across the country, the ground under higher education is shifting, and it’s not mainly a problem of politics. It’s mission drift.

Over time, universities started talking less like places of teaching and learning and more like bundles of services. Students became customers, with satisfaction as the core metric. Amenities expanded, administrative layers multiplied, and academic rigor became one priority among many.

The consequences are already visible. More than 100 private colleges closed their doors in the first five years of the 2020s, and higher education consulting firm Huron predicts that 370 more could follow suit over the next decade. With state backing, public universities are at lower risk but still face similar financial pressures.

UNC Chapel Hill is insulated from a lot of that because people still want in. Demand is high and supply is limited. But not every campus will be protected by prestige. The next decade will require sharper priorities and tougher choices than academia is built to enjoy.

In a coming era of closures and consolidations, romance won’t keep campuses open. Governance will.

The General Assembly didn’t establish a university so it could become an elegant refuge for professional academics. In the 1789 act creating the country’s first public university, the founders declared that for a well-regulated government, the legislature has a duty to fit young people “for an honorable discharge of the social duties of life.” The original state constitution took a similar tone, saying the university was for the purpose of “useful learning.”

Useful learning doesn’t mean job training alone, though that’s part of it. More than that, a public university exists to prepare future leaders, educators, and public servants. It exists to cultivate intellectual curiosity and civic and moral character. It exists to produce trained leadership for the state, not only for Raleigh and Charlotte, but for every county that needs competent teachers, nurses, engineers, managers, and judges.

“University of the people” is not a warm feeling, nor is Kuralt’s line just a celebration of campus charm. It’s a reminder that UNC belongs to the people who built it, fund it, and send their children there hoping for a better life.

Contributing columnist Andrew Dunn is the publisher of the Longleaf Politics newsletter, which offers thoughtful analysis of North Carolina politics and policy from a conservative perspective. He can be reached at andrew@longleafpol.com.

This story was originally published March 9, 2026 at 9:41 AM with the headline "UNC is the university of the people. The people should have a say | Opinion."