The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill or simply UNC) was the first university in the United States founded as an arm of a government in 1789. As of 2026, UNC Chapel Hill has 21,075 undergraduate students, and U.S. News and World Report ranked UNC the 26th-best university in the nation and the fourth-best public university. The university is a collection of 16 colleges and offers a wide variety of undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs. ^{1  2  3}

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has faced mounting scrutiny over campus unrest, antisemitism concerns, and shifting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. In 2024, pro-Palestinian protests led in part by the university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine escalated into disruptive encampments, flag controversies, and arrests, raising questions about campus order and enforcement. Demonstrations continued through the school’s 2024 commencement weekend, including acts of vandalism. ^{4  5  6}  UNC Chapel Hill drew criticism after receiving an “F” rating from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) amid reports of rising hostility toward Jewish students and insufficient institutional response. ⁷

UNC has cut millions in funding from DEI programs, eliminating DEI-related positions, and adopting institutional neutrality. Critics of DEI praised the moves, but they were opposed by left-of-center advocates. Before shifting course, UNC Chapel Hill was a leading DEI institution, basing tenure tracks, research opportunities, and promotions on commitments to DEI standards. ^{8  9  10  11  12  13}

History

The University of North Carolina (UNC) became the first university in the United States founded as an arm of a government in 1789 when William Richardson Davie, then a member of the North Carolina General Assembly, wrote legislation to establish the university. In 1793, he and the trustees began construction, and the first class of students began in 1795. UNC was the only government-run university to award degrees in the United States in the 18th century. The UNC School of Law was established in 1845, with other graduate programs beginning in 1876, followed by the establishment of a teaching school in 1877 and a medical program in 1897. Over the next century, nearly a dozen schools were added to the UNC college system, including a school of pharmacy, government, and public health. ¹

In 1922, the Association of American Universities (AAU) admitted UNC as a member. In 1931, the North Carolina General Assembly established a Consolidated University comprised of the UNC Chapel Hill campus, Woman’s College at Greensboro, and North Carolina State College at Raleigh. In 1972, the North Carolina General Assembly created the UNC system, joining the 16 state colleges and universities under one president and board of governors. ¹

Notable Programs and Centers

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill maintains 16 different colleges and schools, including the College of Arts and Sciences in which most undergraduate students begin their studies. ¹⁴ In addition to this college, UNC Chapel Hill has a School of Government, the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, the Adams School of Dentistry, the Graduate School, the School of Medicine, the School of Education, the School of Law, the School of Nursing, the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, the Kenan-Flagler Business School, the School of Social Work, the School of Information and Library Science, the Gillings School of Global Public Health, the School of Data Science and Society, and the School of Civic Life and Leadership. ³

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and the only center of its kind in North Carolina. The Lineberger Center conducts hundreds of clinical trials and major cancer research programs to develop treatments in immunotherapy and CAR-T therapies. ^{15  16}

Institute for the Environment

UNC Chapel Hill’s Institute for the Environment conducts interdisciplinary environmental research related to climate change, coastal resilience, and left-of-center environmental policy advocacy, including promotion of solar power and reducing fuel-energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. ^{17  18} Environmentalist student activist group UNC Sunrise has advocated for a Green New Deal policy for UNC Chapel Hill. ¹⁹

Institute of Politics Speaker Series

The UNC Chapel Hill Institute of Politics (IOP) is a prominent civic life and political studies center at the university. Its central initiative is the IOP Speaker Series which brings high profile political figures to speak on campus. Past speakers include, former U.S. Senator and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Danforth (R-MO), former Secretaries of Education Margaret Spellings and John King, former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam (R), and former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. ²⁰

Controversies

Pro-Palestinian Protests

In April 2024, the UNC Chapel Hill chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organized a highly disruptive protest on UNC’s main quad that resulted in a tent encampment and the cancellation of classes. Police clashed with protesters to forcibly remove the encampment, leading to the immediate detention of 36 protesters and the eventual arrest of 39 individuals who were charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. During the protest, demonstrators replaced the American flag with a Palestinian flag, prompting a group of UNC fraternity members to encircle and protect the American flag after it was restored. ^{4  5}

In December 2024, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office dismissed all criminal charges against the protesters. ²¹ Several of the protesters were still banned from campus but filed an injunction against UNC in 2025 to allow the students to return to campus. ²²

Pro-Palestinian protests continued throughout May and culminated in a protest during UNC Chapel Hill’s commencement ceremonies on May 11, 2024. Protesters poured red paint and left handprints on university property while displaying Palestinian flags and messaging. ⁶ In August 2024, SJP activists vowed to continue their pro-Palestinian protests in 2025. ²³

Antisemitism Controversy

UNC Chapel Hill has been at the center of several controversies related to allegations of antisemitism on campus. In April 2024, UNC Chapel Hill received an “F” from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) amid a surge in antisemitic incidents following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. Jewish students reported feeling unsafe, with faculty and speakers openly praising the attack. ⁷ In response to the report, the ADL, Hillel International, the Jewish Federations of North America, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations circulated a petition titled “Urge the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill to Safeguard Campus from Hate.” ²⁴

During a November 2023 UNC roundtable event, pro-Palestinian activist Rania Masri discussed the events of Oct. 7, describing the terrorist attack as a “beautiful day.” ²⁵ In a February 2024 op-rf, Jewish UNC Chapel Hill professor Deborah Gerhardt criticized her faculty colleagues for not condemning Masri’s antisemitic comments during a faculty council meeting vote on the subject. ²⁶ UNC English professor Jessica Wolfe responded to Gerhardt’s article in an letter in which Wolfe claimed that Gerhardt mischaracterized the response of faculty members who allegedly failed to condemn Masri’s comments. Wolfe argued that in addition to protecting Jewish students, the university has a duty to protect free speech and criticism of Israel. ²⁷ In 2024, the Department of Education launched a Title VI investigation into the incident. ²⁸

In July 2024, U.S. House of Representatives Chairman of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Mike Bost (R-IL) wrote a letter to then-North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) accusing UNC Chapel Hill of failing to protect Jewish students during anti-Israel protests on campus. ²⁹

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Before 2024, UNC Chapel Hill was a leading institution for race-based hiring and research advancement initiatives. In 2020, the UNC School of Medicine announced recommendations from a social justice task force report that conditioned tenure and promotion on faculty commitments to DEI. In 2021, the school’s Department of Allied Health Sciences announced similar recommendations. ¹² In 2022, UNC Chapel Hill’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research announced its plans to award research opportunities based on DEI commitments. ¹³

In May 2024, UNC Chapel Hill announced that it would divert the school’s entire $2.3 million DEI budget toward public safety and policing in the wake of pro-Palestinian protests that disrupted the campus during that academic year. ⁸ In an opinion editorial, Jeremiah Poff, editor of the right-of-center Washington Examiner’s Restoring America vertical, applauded UNC’s decision, arguing the university should replace DEI with merit and “classical virtues.” ^{10  30} Several left-of-center outlets criticized UNC’s divestment from DEI programs, arguing the university caved to pressure from right-of-center advocacy groups including the Heritage Foundation. ¹¹  

In September 2024, UNC System colleges eliminated 59 DEI-related positions, 20 of which were former positions at UNC Chapel Hill. The DEI cuts at UNC Chapel Hill totaled $5.4 million. The UNC System also implemented institutional neutrality policies to curb ideological endorsements by university officials, marking an intense departure from its previous DEI policies. ⁹

Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC Chapel Hill

In 2014, anti-affirmative-action advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) sued the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) over its admissions process, alleging that the process violated the 14th Amendment by using race as a factor in admissions. UNC admitted that it used race as one of many factors in its admissions process but argued that its process adhered to the requirements for race-based admissions outlined by the Supreme Court in previous rulings on affirmative action. In 2021, the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina ruled in favor of UNC Chapel Hill. SFFA appealed, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed to hold the case in abeyance after the U.S. Supreme Court granted review. The case was originally consolidated for oral argument with a similar case challenging the admissions policies at Harvard University under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but the Court subsequently split the two cases. ³¹

In a 6-3 final decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of SFFA, concluding that the university’s admissions policies violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. ³²

Leadership

In 2024, Lee H. Roberts became the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to joining UNC Chapel Hill as Chancellor, he served as North Carolina’s state budget director under former Governor Pat McCrory (R) from 2014 to 2016. Roberts has been a member of the UNC System Board of Governors, the State Board of Community Colleges, the North Carolina Banking Commission, and the Golden LEAF Foundation. For five years, he taught public budgeting at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and sat on its Board of Visitors. ³³

Magnus Egerstedt is the executive vice chancellor and provost at UNC Chapel Hill. He previously worked as the dean of engineering in the Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. Prior to UCI, Egerstedt was on faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology, working as the School Chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the director of Georgia Tech’s Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines. Egerstedt received his B.A. in Philosophy from Stockholm University, as well as his M.S. in Engineering Physics and Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. He was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Harvard University. ³⁴

Finances

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s donations, and investments are managed through the University Of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Foundation, the public university’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit support organization. In 2024, the UNC Chapel Hill Foundation reported $20,313,186 in total revenue, $40,081,695 in total expenses, and $743,649,629 in total assets. ³⁵ The total budget for UNC Chapel Hill totals $4.5 billion. ³³

In 2024, UNC Chapel Hill received $1.21 billion in research grants, 65 percent of which came from federal sources, including $592 million from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and $60 million from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). ³⁶

As of June 2025, UNC Chapel Hill had received 3,027 federal grant obligations totaling $837,557,187. This represented 37 fewer grants, and more than $126 million less in funding, compared to that point in fiscal year 2024. ³⁷

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