The Order of the Tar Heel One Hundred (now the UNC Board of Visitors) met in the second-floor faculty lounge of the Morehead Building on October 16, 1975. That warm fall morning, they met to discuss the creation of a foundation dedicated to the liberal arts at Carolina, deciding to support the development and enhancement of the University. The recommendation, republished below, was written by Dr. Bill Little, vice chancellor of development and public service and professor of chemistry at the time.
The recommendation was a success, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Arts and Sciences Foundation was incorporated that December—40 years ago today.
RECOMMENDATION TO ESTABLISH AN ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION
PREAMBLE
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is at a “crossroads.” Throughout its history it has been in many ways unique as a state institution. It is imperative at this time of limitations on growth of the institution that the University and its friends focus efforts on developing further the high quality in all the programs at Chapel Hill.
The liberal arts background is an imperative for leadership, whether in law, business, other professions or other walks of life. This applies equally to those who proceed from the bachelor’s degree directly into their life’s work and those who proceed to professional or graduate school. A high standard of leadership at Chapel Hill can only benefit the State and its other educational institutions.
The arts and sciences programs at the University constitute historically, and still today, a major source of the greatness of the University. Most of the University’s alumni are alumni of these disciplines, particularly from their undergraduate programs.
The strength that has developed at the University during the past one hundred and eighty years has grown in large measure from the teaching, research, scholarship and service in the arts and sciences. The University at Chapel Hill has been since 1922 a member of the select Association of American Universities, and ranks among the top twenty-five universities in the nation in graduate work. The specialized professional schools in the University are quick to acknowledge that the quality of their programs depends in part on this basic strength of the University.
The nation recognizes this strength at Chapel Hill; its benefits flow out to the State and its other fifteen institutions of higher learning.
Yet, there is no special agency or foundation concerned with developing private financial support for enrichment of this central part of the University, though the needs in the arts and sciences are as great as those in the professional schools. Needs such as funds for research and study leaves, professional travel, support for scholarly publications, faculty salary supplements, special projects and educational innovation, scholarships, and graduate fellowships represent some of the types of needs that cannot be met at all or on an adequate scale by State appropriation. Most of the major professional schools—Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Business Administration, Journalism, Law—have foundations supporting their activities and the effectiveness of these foundations in creating a “margin for excellence” has been demonstrated.
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS it is recognized that the Arts and Sciences departments of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are the bedrock of the entire University, and
WHEREAS it is apparent that the faculty is the heart and driving force of any great institution of learning such as has been demonstrated at Chapel Hill, and
WHEREAS it is the desire of all to continue the outstanding quality of the program offered by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and to add to its “margin of excellence” by providing funds for the development and enrichment of faculty aids and assistance, and the promotion of student welfare, leadership and realistic career orientation, and
WHEREAS it is the desire to augment, without replacing, State appropriations,
NOW THEREFORE it is recommended that an Arts and Sciences Foundation be created to support the ideals and purposes stated in the preamble hereto.
