Millennium Stadium

The Millennium Stadium (Welsh: Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium (Welsh: Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rugby union team and has also held Wales national football team games. Initially built to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup, it has gone on to host many other large-scale events, such as the Tsunami Relief Cardiff concert, the Super Special Stage of Wales Rally Great Britain, the Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain and various concerts. It also hosted FA Cup, League Cup and Football League play-off finals while Wembley Stadium was being redeveloped between 2001 and 2006, as well as football matches during the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The stadium is owned by Millennium Stadium plc, a subsidiary company of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). The architects were Bligh Lobb Sports Architecture. The structural engineers were WS Atkins and the building contractor was Laing. The total construction cost of the stadium was £121 million, of which the Millennium Commission funded £46 million.

The Millennium Stadium opened in June 1999 and its first major event was an international rugby union match on 26 June 1999, when Wales beat South Africa in a test match by 29–19 before a crowd of 29,000. With a total seating capacity of 73,931, it is the largest stadium in Wales and the fourth largest (and second largest outside London) in the United Kingdom by total capacity. In addition, it is the third-largest stadium in the Six Nations Championship behind the Stade de France and Twickenham. It is also the second-largest stadium in the world with a fully retractable roof and was the second stadium in Europe to have this feature. Listed as a category four stadium by UEFA, the stadium was chosen as the venue for the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final, which took place on 3 June 2017. In 2015, the Welsh Rugby Union announced a 10-year sponsorship deal with the Principality Building Society that saw the stadium renamed as the "Principality Stadium" from early 2016.

## History

### Background

Until 1969, Cardiff RFC and Wales both played their home matches on the same pitch at Cardiff Arms Park, but all this changed in the 1969–70 season. As a result of an agreement between Cardiff Athletic Club and the WRU, the National Stadium project established that a new stadium for international matches and events was required, with Cardiff RFC moving to a new, purpose-built stadium on the original cricket ground at the site of the former Cardiff Arms Park stadium. By 7 April 1984 the National Stadium was officially opened. However, in 1994, a committee was set up to consider redeveloping the National Stadium, and by 1995 the WRU had been chosen to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

In 1995, the National Stadium, which was designed in 1962, only had a capacity of 53,000; other nations' stadia, such as Twickenham (England) with a capacity of 75,000, and Murrayfield Stadium (Scotland) with a capacity of 67,000, had overtaken it. France was also about to build the Stade de France, which would have a capacity of more than 80,000 for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The original capacity of the National Stadium was 65,000, but this had been reduced to 53,000, due to the Taylor Report. 11,000 of 53,000 capacity was on the East Terrace and the conversion to an all-seater stadium would have reduced the stadium capacity still further to just 47,500.

In addition to the problems of capacity, the National Stadium was also very well hidden by the neighbouring buildings to the south in Park Street, Wood Street and to the east in Westgate Street, and also by Cardiff Rugby Ground in the north. It was only fully visible from across the River Taff in the west. Access to the ground was also very restricted with the main entrance being a narrow opening in Westgate Street to the east which was shared by both vehicles and spectators alike.

The options for the new stadium included adding a third tier to the existing National Stadium, or moving to a new site. This last option was discounted because it would have required a vast car parking facility, and that would have put severe short-term pressures on the local transport infrastructure, creating traffic jams and pollution. The committee eventually chose a new stadium on the same site but with considerable increase in its capacity. It would also involve moving the alignment of the stadium from west–east to north–south. This was the option supported by the Millennium Commission. It would become the fourth redevelopment of the Cardiff Arms Park site. It was also decided that the new stadium should have a sliding roof to accommodate a multi-use venue, with a grass pitch for rugby and football. The only other sliding roofs in Europe at the time were at two Dutch stadia – the Amsterdam Arena, completed in 1996 with a capacity of 50,000; and Gelredome in Arnhem, a 30,000-capacity ground built from 1996 to 1998.

To remain on the Arms Park site, additional space had to be found to allow safe access and to provide room for the increased capacity and improved facilities. This was achieved by the purchase of adjacent buildings to the south and east and by the construction of a new £6 million River Walk by the River Taff on the western side of the stadium.

By 1999, the Millennium Stadium had replaced the National Stadium, Cardiff Arms Park, as the national stadium of Wales for rugby union and association football international matches. Cardiff RFC continued as before to play at Cardiff Arms Park rugby ground, which had replaced the cricket ground in 1969.

### Construction

The stadium was designed by a team led by Rod Sheard at Lobb Sport Architecture, who later merged with HOK Sport to become Populous. The building contractor was Laing and the structural engineers were WS Atkins. Mike Otlet of WS Atkins designed the stadium's retractable roof, which was constructed by Kelsey Roofing Industries. Cimolai S.p.A. from Italy fabricated and erected the 72 steel plane frames for the stands and all the 4,500 components of the roof.

Construction involved the demolition of a number of buildings, primarily the existing National Stadium (Cardiff Arms Park), Wales Empire Pool (swimming pool) in Wood Street, Cardiff Empire Telephone Exchange building (owned by BT) in Park Street, the newly built Territorial Auxiliary & Volunteer Reserve building in Park Street, and the Social Security offices in Westgate Street.

The stadium was built by Laing in 1999 on the site of the National Stadium, with the head of construction being Steve Ager. It was built for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, for which Wales was the main host, with seven of the 41 matches, including the final, being played at the stadium.

The total construction cost of the stadium was £121 million, which was funded by private investment and £46 million of public funds from the Millennium Commission, the sale of debentures to supporters (which offered guaranteed tickets in exchange for an interest-free loan) and loans. The development left the WRU heavily in debt.

The Millennium Stadium was named as such in recognition of the Millennium Commission's contribution to the building.

The stadium was first used for a major event on 26 June 1999, when Wales played South Africa in a rugby union test match before a crowd of 29,000. Wales won 29–19: the first time they had ever beaten the Springboks.

### 2016 renaming

On 8 September 2015 it was announced that the Millennium Stadium would be renamed Principality Stadium as the result of a 10-year naming rights deal with the Principality Building Society. Some fans expressed opposition on social media.

On 22 January 2016, the Millennium Stadium was officially renamed as the Principality Stadium. The new name, written bilingually ("Stadiwm Principality Stadium") and covering 114 square metres (1,230 sq ft) of the upper stadium, was lit up at a special evening ceremony, to be followed by a festival to encourage grassroots rugby. The change of name also meant a change of logo for the Millennium Stadium. There were three designs shortlisted, and a panel, which included the former Wales international captain Ryan Jones and staff and members of the WRU and Principality Building Society, chose the final design. A spokesperson for the WRU said: "The new stadium logo takes its inspiration from the venue's iconic architecture; four spires, curved frontage and fully retractable roof."

## Features

The all-seater stadium has the capacity for 74,500 supporters and features a retractable roof, only the second stadium of its type in Europe, and the largest football stadium in the world with this feature, by capacity. Additional seating is sometimes added for special events such as a rugby Test against the New Zealand All Blacks, or for the FA Cup Final. The current record attendance is set at just over 78,000, recorded at the Anthony Joshua v Carlos Takam fight, on 28 October 2017, in which Joshua successfully retained his WBA, IBF and IBO titles.

The natural grass turf was made up of a modular system installed by GreenTech ITM. It features built in irrigation and drainage. The pitch itself was laid on top of some 7,412 pallets that could be moved so the stadium could be used for concerts, exhibitions and other events.

In May 2014, after much trouble with disease and stability, the surface was removed and replaced with a more resilient interwoven sand based Desso pitch.

The four ends of the ground are called the North Stand, the West Stand, the South Stand and the BT Stand (east). The South Stand was previously known as the Hyder Stand, until Hyder was sold. The stadium has three tiers of seating with the exception of the North Stand, which has two tiers. The lower tier holds 23,154 spectators, the middle tier holding 15,626 and the upper tier holding 35,151 spectators.

The stadium was slightly restricted in size due to its proximity to Cardiff Rugby Club's home in the adjacent smaller stadium within Cardiff Arms Park. The WRU were unable to secure enough funding to include the North Stand in the new stadium and the Millennium Commission would not allow any of its funds to be used in any way for the construction of a new stadium for Cardiff RFC. The WRU held talks with Cardiff RFC to see if it would be possible for the club to either move or secure funding for the Cardiff Arms Park to be re-developed, but these were unsuccessful. The stadium thus had to be completed with a break in its bowl structure in the North Stand, known colloquially as Glanmor's Gap, after Glanmor Griffiths, then chairman of the WRU and now a former president.

The superstructure of the stadium is based around four 90.3-metre (296 ft) masts. The stadium was built from 56,000 tonnes of concrete and steel, and has 124 hospitality suites and 7 hospitality lounges, 22 bars, 7 restaurants, 17 first aid points, 12 escalators and 7 lifts. The stadium has 7 gates for access to the site; Gate 1 is from the River Walk via Castle Street (to the north), Gates 2 and 3 are via Westgate Street (to the east), Gate 4 is for Security only also via Westgate Street, Gate 5 is via Park Street (to the south) and Gates 6 and 7 are via the Millennium Plaza (also to the south).

Any future renovation to the stadium will involve replacing the old North Stand of the former National Stadium with a new one similar to the three existing stands of the new Millennium Stadium. This will make the stadium bowl-shaped and will increase its capacity to around 80,000. It will resolve the existing problems of deteriorating concrete quality on the old structure in the north stand. However the WRU has been more resistant to the proposal in recent years, stating that the concrete has not been deteriorating in recent years meaning the cost of replacing Glanmor's Gap would not justify the limited increase in capacity it would provide.

In each of the stadium's bars, so-called "joy machines" can pour 12 pints in less than 20 seconds. During a Wales versus France match, 63,000 fans drank 77,184 pints of beer, almost double the 44,000 pints drunk by a similar number of fans at a game at Twickenham. The stadium has a resident hawk named "Dad", who is employed to drive seagulls and pigeons out of the stadium.

In 2005 the stadium installed an "Arena Partition Drape System" – a 1,100 kg (2,400 lb) black curtain made up of 12 drapes measuring 9 m × 35 m (30 ft × 115 ft) – to vary the audience from a capacity of over 73,000 down to between 12,000 and 46,000, depending on the four different positions that it can be hung. The curtains can be stored in the roof of the stadium when not in use. The £1 million cost of the curtain was funded by the stadium, the Millennium Commission, its caterers Letherby and Christopher (Compass Group) and by the then Wales Tourist Board. The curtain was supplied by Blackout.

In May 2015, the chairman of the WRU, Gareth Davies, announced that the stadium would be fitted with new seats, replacing the original seats from 1999 at a cost of £4 million to £5 million, which would be completed by 2018. In addition a new £3.1 million Desso hybrid pitch will be installed.

In February 2019, the stadium increased its disabled capacity from 168 to 214 at a cost of around £100,000. As a result, the overall capacity of the stadium was reduced from 74,500 to 73,931.

### Statue of Sir Tasker Watkins

A statue of Sir Tasker Watkins, the former WRU president between 1993 and 2004, was commissioned to stand outside Gate 3 of the stadium. The bronze statue, 9 feet (2.7 m) tall, was sculpted by Llantwit Major based sculptor Roger Andrews. The Welsh Government contributed £50,000, as did Cardiff Council. It was officially unveiled on 15 November 2009 by his daughter, Lady Mair Griffith-Williams.

## Usage

As well as international rugby union and association football, the Millennium Stadium has hosted a variety of sports, including, rugby league (including the Challenge Cup Final on three occasions between 2003 and 2005, the opening ceremony of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup and Welsh Rugby League internationals), speedway, boxing, the Wales Rally Great Britain stage of the World Rally Championship, Monster Jam and indoor cricket. The indoor cricket match between The Brits and a Rest of the World team for the Pertemps Power Cricket Cup, which took place on 4 and 5 October 2002.

### Rugby union

The stadium is the home of the Welsh rugby union team, who play all of their home fixtures at the venue. These games include those during the Six Nations, as well as the Autumn Internationals against nations from the Southern Hemisphere. Apart from the national team, the stadium has also hosted the European Rugby Champions Cup finals on five occasions. In total, the site, including the National Stadium, has hosted the final of the European Rugby Champions Cup on seven occasions.

The stadium has also been used for Celtic League games, and the semi-finals of the Anglo-Welsh Cup in 2006 and 2007. Since 2013, the Millennium Stadium has hosted Judgement Day, a double-header between the four Welsh United Rugby Championship teams. The 2016 edition had 68,262 spectators, the highest in the history of the league.

The stadium hosted the first match in the 2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand when they drew 25–25 against Argentina in a warm-up test match.

Welsh Varsity rugby matches

On 30 March 2011, the stadium hosted the Welsh Varsity rugby match for the first time in the history of the match between the senior teams of Cardiff University and Swansea University. The stadium is used alternating years with Liberty Stadium in Swansea. The Welsh Varsity event celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2016.

Rugby World Cup

The Welsh Rugby Union hosted the 1999 Rugby World Cup with the Final being played at the stadium. The stadium also hosted 3 pool matches and 1 quarter-final match (New Zealand 18–20 France) of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

On 15 October 2011, the stadium was open to Welsh Rugby Union fans free of charge, providing that they wear red so that they could watch a live screening of the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-final between Wales and France that was played at Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand. The match was screened on the stadium's existing large screens, on all of their television screens and on a screen that was brought in for the occasion. The same was done for the Bronze Final between Wales and Australia which saw Wales defeated and take fourth place.

The stadium hosted six pool matches, including two featuring Wales, and two quarter-final matches during the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

### Rugby league

The stadium first hosted rugby league football during the 2000 World Cup: a double header featuring Cook Islands versus Lebanon and Wales versus New Zealand that attracted a crowd of 17,612. It was again used as Wales' home ground during the 2002 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain and France when they again hosted the Kiwis this time attracting 8,746 spectators.

The Stadium has hosted three Challenge Cup Finals, which are usually played at Wembley, from 2003 to 2005. In 2003 the Bradford Bulls defeated the Leeds Rhinos 22–20 in front of 71,212 fans. St. Helens defeated Wigan 36–16 in 2004 in front of 73,734 fans, while Hull F.C. defeated Leeds 25–24 in 2005 in front of 74,213 fans, the largest rugby league crowd at the stadium.

Also, in 2007 the stadium hosted the inaugural Millennium Magic weekend. This was a two-day event in May when an entire round of Super League matches were played, three games on the Saturday and three games on the Sunday. The event was deemed a success by the sport's governing body, the RFL, and second Millennium Magic event took place in May 2008, although the 2009 and 2010 events were held at Murrayfield Stadium and were renamed Magic Weekend. In 2011, Magic Weekend moved back to Cardiff with the opening round of Super League being played.

On 26 October 2013, the Millennium Stadium hosted the opening ceremony and the first two fixtures of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup: a double-header featuring Wales against Italy and England against title favourites and eventual tournament champions Australia. This double header produced an overall attendance of 45,052, which is an international rugby league record at the stadium.

### Association football

From 2000 to 2009, the stadium was the almost-permanent home of Welsh football. The national team played the vast majority of home matches at the Millennium Stadium, with a handful of friendly matches once or twice a year at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham or Liberty Stadium, Swansea. The first Welsh football game at the stadium was played against Finland in 2000, and drew a then-record home crowd for Welsh football of over 66,000. This has since been beaten on several occasions. However, since 2010, the majority of home games have been played at the smaller Cardiff City Stadium, the home of Cardiff City. Wales have only played at the stadium twice since 2009; in 2011 against England and in 2018 against Spain.

While the Millennium Stadium was under construction, the original Wembley Stadium had hosted the Welsh rugby team during the building of the new ground. The favour was returned from 2001 while the new Wembley Stadium was being built, with the Millennium hosting:

- FA Cup Final
- League Cup Final
- Football League Trophy Final
- Football League play-off Finals
- FA Community Shield

The stadium became notorious for an apparent "away team hoodoo"; the first 11 major cup finals were all won by the teams occupying the home dressing room. Stoke City beat Brentford 2–0 in 2002 to end the "hoodoo", after Paul Darby carried out a feng shui blessing.

Liverpool were the first team to win the FA Cup at the Millennium Stadium in 2001 after beating Arsenal 2–1. They were also the first team to win the League Cup at the Stadium, defeating Birmingham City in a penalty shoot-out earlier that year. In 2003, Liverpool won the League Cup for the seventh time in their history thanks to a 2–0 win over Manchester United in the final at the stadium. Liverpool also won the last FA Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium in 2006, beating West Ham United 3–1 in a penalty shoot-out that followed a 3–3 draw after extra time in what was billed as 'the best cup final of the modern era'.

The Football League Third Division play-offs in 2003 saw AFC Bournemouth beat Lincoln City 5–2. In this game, Bournemouth set a new record for the most goals scored by one team in a single match at the stadium. This record has since been matched but not beaten. The last domestic cup match played was when Doncaster Rovers beat Bristol Rovers 3–2 after extra time in the Football League Trophy Final on 1 April 2007.

In 2001, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) confirmed that they had bid to host the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final. The stadium had recently been rated as a five-star stadium by UEFA, making it one of the favourites to host the match, but the final was eventually awarded to Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United.

It was suggested that the stadium would have been one of the venues of a proposed UEFA Euro 2016 championship hosted jointly by Wales and Scotland. However, the bid did not reach the formal UEFA selection stage, having been abandoned by the Welsh and Scottish Football Associations for financial reasons. In April 2014, the FAW did submit a formal bid to host three group matches and either a round of 16 match or a quarter-final at Euro 2020, which UEFA planned to host at 13 venues across Europe. When the host venues were voted on in September 2014, the Millennium Stadium lost out by a single vote behind Glasgow's Hampden Park, a decision that FAW chief executive Jonathan Ford put down to UEFA politics. On 30 June 2015, the Millennium Stadium was chosen as the venue for the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final. UEFA rules meant it could not be branded as the Principality Stadium during the event, resulting in all titles and logos – as well as those of other non-UEFA sponsors – being covered or removed for the duration. The game was played on 3 June 2017 between Italian club Juventus and Spanish club Real Madrid, in a repeat of the 1998 final; Real Madrid won the match 4–1.

When London was selected as the host city for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Millennium Stadium was named as one of the six venues for the football competition. It had the distinction of hosting the opening event of the Games – a 1–0 win for the Great Britain women's team against New Zealand – as well as four other group games and a quarter-final in the women's tournament, and three group games, a quarter-final and the bronze medal match in the men's.

### Boxing

There have been five nights of boxing at the stadium. On 8 July 2006 when Matt Skelton beat Danny Williams for the Commonwealth heavyweight title. On 7 April 2007, Joe Calzaghe beat Peter Manfredo to retain his WBO super middleweight belt. On 3 November 2007, Calzaghe beat Mikkel Kessler to retain his WBO super middleweight belt and win the WBA and WBC super middleweight titles.

On 28 October 2017 Anthony Joshua successfully retained his WBA (Super), IBF and IBO heavyweight titles against mandatory challenger Carlos Takam with a 10th round stoppage.

On 31 March 2018, it hosted the World heavyweight unification fight between Anthony Joshua, holder of the WBA and IBF belts, and Joseph Parker, holder of the WBO belt. Joshua beat Parker on points.

### Motorsports

In 2001, it staged its first ever motorsport event, hosting the Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain, and has done so every year since, attracting a record crowd of 44,150 in 2010. The temporary motorcycle speedway track is 278 metres (304 yards) in length and with sections of the stadiums lower seating bowl covered, the capacity of the stadium for the Grand Prix is set at 62,500.

In September 2005 the stadium was host to the first ever indoor stage of the World Rally Championship during the Wales Rally Great Britain. The lower tier of the stadium was removed to create a figure-of-eight course. In addition to this, the stadium has also hosted Supercross events. In October 2007, the stadium first hosted the UK leg of the Monster Jam trucks Europe tour, and returned in June 2008, again in 2009, 2010, 2016, 2018 and 2019.

### Film

The stadium has been used on numerous occasions as a venue for shooting film and television productions. Scenes from the 2001 Hindi film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... were filmed there.

Between 2004 and 2011, the stadium was used several times as a filming location for episodes of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. The 2005 episode "Dalek" was shot primarily on location at the stadium, using its underground areas to represent a bunker in Utah, US, in the year 2012. The location shooting for the episode took place during October and November 2004. The underground areas of the stadium were used again in August 2005 to film Mission Control scenes for the Doctor Who Christmas special, "The Christmas Invasion", and again the following year to film scenes in the underground corridors of Torchwood in "The Runaway Bride" episode, broadcast on Christmas Day 2006. Shots of the Stormcage Facility in which River Song is incarcerated in series 5 and 6 of Doctor Who are also in the stadium, filmed between October 2010 and January 2011.

The stadium has also been used as a location for the filming of Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures. The 2010 story, "Death of the Doctor", included corridor scenes for the UNIT headquarters that were filmed underground at the Millennium Stadium.

The Wembley Stadium scene in the film 28 Weeks Later was actually filmed at the Millennium Stadium. Although the outside is footage of Wembley, the inside is all filmed in Cardiff. The visual effects team on the film edited the footage to make it look more like Wembley.

Sébastien Foucan jumped over the gap of the opening of the stadium roof in the parkour documentary "Jump Britain".

### Eventing

The inaugural Express Eventing International Cup took place at the stadium on 30 November 2008. The three-event competition made up of dressage, cross-country and show jumping all took place over the one day. The event was won by Oliver Townend.

### Concerts

The stadium has also been used for a variety of musical events, including the Manic Street Preachers concert held on Millennium Eve, and, on the following day, a recording of the BBC's Songs of Praise, which attracted an attendance of 60,000. Tina Turner performed a sold-out concert at the stadium during her highly successful Twenty Four Seven Tour in 2000. Welsh rockers Stereophonics have played two sold-out shows at the stadium: In July 2001 as part of their two-day "A Day at the Races" festival which would later be released to DVD and in 2003, shortly after the departure of the late Stuart Cable.

American rock band Bon Jovi played the venue during the One Wild Night Tour in 2001. At the end of January 2005, the stadium hosted a tsunami relief concert in aid of the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, with Eric Clapton headlining the event. The stadium has also been host to Madonna on two occasions, the first in July 2006 when she opened the UK leg of her Confessions Tour, and most recently in August 2008 when she kicked off her Sticky & Sweet Tour at the stadium. Other performers who have played at the stadium include Robbie Williams as part of his Weddings, Barmitzvahs & Stadiums Tour, U2 as part of their Vertigo Tour, Red Hot Chili Peppers as part of their By the Way tour, The Rolling Stones as part of their A Bigger Bang Tour, R.E.M. as part of their Monster tour and again for their Around the Sun tour.

Paul McCartney also played at the stadium as part of his Up and Coming Tour, and The Police performed there as part of their Reunion Tour. In late 2005, Oasis played at the stadium during their Don't Believe the Truth Tour and again on their Dig Out Your Soul Tour in 2009. In 2008, the stadium hosted Neil Diamond and Bruce Springsteen with the E Street Band as part of their Magic Tour, On 22 August 2009, U2 again played at the stadium, as part of their European leg of their U2 360° Tour, playing to a record-breaking concert attendance of 73,354. On 17 May 2023, Beyoncé performed at the stadium as part of her record-breaking Renaissance World Tour. Taylor Swift will be playing on the stadium on 18 June 2024 as part of the Eras Tour.

### Conferences

The stadium offers conferencing facilities via the foodservice organisation Compass Group. The facilities consist of six individually designed lounges and 124 pitch-facing executive box suites.

In addition to business events, the facilities are also available for dinners, banquets, balls, parties and weddings receptions.

### Temporary hospital

On 28 March 2020 it was announced that the stadium was to be converted at a cost of £8 million into a temporary field hospital to accommodate up to 2000 patients of the COVID-19 pandemic, at the same time as the Excel Centre, London, NEC, Birmingham, and the Manchester Central Convention Complex. By the weekend of 11–12 April 2020, it had a capacity of 330 beds.

### Professional wrestling

On 12 April 2022, American professional wrestling company WWE announced that it would hold a major event at Millennium Stadium on 3 September, and opened pre-registration for tickets. The event was announced as being WWE's largest show in the UK since SummerSlam at the original Wembley Stadium in 1992. On 29 April 2022, it was announced that the event would be titled Clash at the Castle, in reference to nearby Cardiff Castle. The event attracted over 59,000 ticket pre-sale registrations, a company record.

## See also

- Sport in Cardiff
- Millennium Stadium Charitable Trust
- List of stadiums by capacity
- List of covered stadiums by capacity
- List of stadia in Wales by capacity
- List of European stadia by capacity
- List of association football stadiums by capacity
- List of tallest buildings in Cardiff

National stadium of Wales, located in central Cardiff

Buildings and structures celebrating the third millennium


The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is the flagship of the University of North Carolina system and is considered to be one of the "Public Ivies". After being chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795, making it one of the oldest public universities in the United States.

The university offers degrees in over 70 courses of study and is administratively divided into 13 separate professional schools and a primary unit, the College of Arts & Sciences. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity", and is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU). According to the National Science Foundation, UNC spent \$1.14 billion on research and development in 2018, ranking 12th in the nation.

The campus covers 729 acres (3 km2) of Chapel Hill's downtown area, encompassing the Morehead Planetarium and the many stores and shops located on Franklin Street. Students can participate in over 550 officially recognized student organizations. UNC Chapel Hill is one of the charter members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which was founded on June 14, 1953. The university's athletic teams compete as the Tar Heels.

UNC's faculty and alumni include 9 Nobel Prize laureates, 23 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 51 Rhodes Scholars. Additional notable alumni include a U.S. President, a U.S. Vice President, 38 Governors of U.S. States, 98 members of the United States Congress, and 9 Cabinet members as well as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, Olympians and professional athletes.

## History

Chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly on December 11, 1789, the university's cornerstone was laid on October 12, 1793, near the ruins of a chapel, chosen because of its central location within the state. The first public university chartered under the US Constitution, the University of North Carolina is one of three universities that claims to be the oldest public university in the United States and the only such institution to confer degrees in the eighteenth century as a public institution.

During the Civil War, North Carolina Governor David Lowry Swain persuaded Confederate President Jefferson Davis to exempt some students from the draft, so the university was one of the few in the Confederacy that managed to stay open. However, Chapel Hill suffered the loss of more of its population during the war than any village in the South, and when student numbers did not recover, the university was forced to close during Reconstruction from December 1, 1870, until September 6, 1875. Following the reopening, enrollment was slow to increase and university administrators offered free tuition for the sons of teachers and ministers, as well as loans for those who could not afford attendance.

Following the Civil War, the university began to modernize its programs and onboard faculty with prestigious degrees. The creation of a new gymnasium, funding for a new Chemistry laboratory, and organization of the Graduate Department were accomplishments touted by UNC president Francis Venable at the 1905 “University Day” celebration.

Despite initial skepticism from university President Frank Porter Graham, on March 27, 1931, legislation was passed to group the University of North Carolina with the State College of Agriculture and Engineering and Woman's College of the University of North Carolina to form the Consolidated University of North Carolina. In 1963, the consolidated university was made fully coeducational, although most women still attended Woman's College for their first two years, transferring to Chapel Hill as juniors, since freshmen were required to live on campus and there was only one women's residence hall. As a result, Woman's College was renamed the "University of North Carolina at Greensboro", and the University of North Carolina became the "University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill." In 1955, UNC officially desegregated its undergraduate divisions.

During World War II, UNC was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.

During the 1960s, the campus was the location of significant political protest. Prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, protests about local racial segregation which began quietly in Franklin Street restaurants led to mass demonstrations and disturbance. The climate of civil unrest prompted the 1963 Speaker Ban Law prohibiting speeches by communists on state campuses in North Carolina. This stand towards the racial segregation on campus led up to the Sit-in movement. The Sit-in movement started a new era in North Carolina, which challenged colleges across the south against racial segregation of public facilities. The law was immediately criticized by university Chancellor William Brantley Aycock and university President William Friday, but was not reviewed by the North Carolina General Assembly until 1965. Small amendments to allow "infrequent" visits failed to placate the student body, especially when the university's board of trustees overruled new Chancellor Paul Frederick Sharp's decision to allow speaking invitations to Marxist speaker Herbert Aptheker and civil liberties activist Frank Wilkinson; however, the two speakers came to Chapel Hill anyway. Wilkinson spoke off campus, while more than 1,500 students viewed Aptheker's speech across a low campus wall at the edge of campus, christened "Dan Moore's Wall" by The Daily Tar Heel for Governor Dan K. Moore. A group of UNC-Chapel Hill students, led by Student Body President Paul Dickson, filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court, and on February 20, 1968, the Speaker Ban Law was struck down. In 1969, campus food workers of Lenoir Hall went on strike protesting perceived racial injustices that impacted their employment, garnering the support of student groups and members of the university and Chapel Hill community.

From the late 1990s and onward, UNC-Chapel Hill expanded rapidly with a 15% increase in total student population to more than 28,000 by 2007. This is accompanied by the construction of new facilities, funded in part by the "Carolina First" fundraising campaign and an endowment that increased fourfold to more than \$2 billion within ten years. Professor Oliver Smithies was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2007 for his work in genetics. Additionally, Professor Aziz Sancar was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2015 for his work in understanding the molecular repair mechanisms of DNA.

In 2011, the first of several investigations found fraud and academic dishonesty at the university related to its athletic program. Following a lesser scandal that began in 2010 involving academic fraud and improper benefits with the university's football program, two hundred questionable classes offered by the university's African and Afro-American Studies department came to light. As a result, the university was placed on probation by its accrediting agency in 2015. It was removed from probation in 2016.

That same year, the public universities in North Carolina had to share a budget cut of \$414 million, of which the Chapel Hill campus lost more than \$100 million in 2011. This followed state budget cuts that trimmed university spending by \$231 million since 2007; Provost Bruce Carney said more than 130 faculty members have left UNC since 2009., with poor staff retention. The Board of Trustees for UNC-CH recommended a 15.6 percent increase in tuition, a historically large increase. The budget cuts in 2011 greatly affected the university and set this increased tuition plan in motion and UNC students protested. On February 10, 2012, the UNC Board of Governors approved tuition and fee increases of 8.8 percent for in-state undergraduates across all 16 campuses.

In June 2018, the Department of Education found that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had violated Title IX in handling reports of sexual assault, five years after four students and an administrator filed complaints. The university was also featured in The Hunting Ground, a 2015 documentary about sexual assault on college campuses. Annie E. Clark and Andrea Pino, two students featured in the film, helped to establish the survivor advocacy organization End Rape on Campus.

In August 2018, the university came to national attention after the toppling of Silent Sam, a Confederate monument which had been erected on campus in 1913 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The statue had been dogged by controversy at various points since the 1960s, with critics claiming that the monument invokes memories of racism and slavery. Many critics cited the explicitly racist views espoused in the dedication speech that local industrialist and UNC Trustee Julian Carr gave at the statue's unveiling on June 2, 1913, and the approval with which they had been met by the crowd at the dedication. Shortly before the beginning of the 2018–2019 school year, the Silent Sam was toppled by protestors and damaged, and has been absent from campus ever since. In July 2020, the University's Carr Hall, which was named after Julian Carr, was renamed the "Student Affairs Building." Carr had supported white supremacy and also the Ku Klux Klan.

After reopening its campus in August 2020, UNC-Chapel Hill reported 135 new COVID-19 cases and four infection clusters within a week of having started in-person classes for the Fall 2020 semester. On 10 August, faculty and staff from several of UNC's constituent institutions filed a complaint against its board of governors, asking the system to default to online-only instruction for the fall. On 17 August, UNC's management announced that the university would be moving all undergraduate classes online from 19 August, becoming the first university to send students home after having reopened.

Notable leaders of the university include the 26th Governor of North Carolina, David Lowry Swain (president 1835–1868); and Edwin Anderson Alderman (1896–1900), who was also president of Tulane University and the University of Virginia. On December 13, 2019 the UNC System Board of Governors unanimously voted to name Kevin Guskiewicz the university's 12th chancellor.

In the early afternoon on August 28, 2023, the second week of the fall semester, a PhD student shot and killed associate professor Zijie Yan in Caudill Labs, a laboratory building near the center of campus.

## Campus

UNC-Chapel Hill's 729-acre (3.0 km2) campus is dominated by two central quads: Polk Place and McCorkle Place. Polk Place is named after North Carolina native and university alumnus President James K. Polk, and McCorkle Place is named in honor of Samuel Eusebius McCorkle, the original author of the bill requesting the university's charter. Adjacent to Polk Place is a sunken brick courtyard known as the Pit where students will gather, often engaging in lively debate with speakers such as the Pit Preacher. The Morehead–Patterson Bell Tower, located in the heart of campus, tolls the quarter-hour. In 1999, UNC-Chapel Hill was one of sixteen recipients of the American Society of Landscape Architects Medallion Awards and was identified as one of 50 college or university "works of art" by T.A. Gaines in his book The Campus as a Work of Art.

The university's campus is informally divided into three regions, usually referred to as "north campus," "middle campus," and "south campus." North campus includes the two quads along with the Pit, Frank Porter Graham Student Union, and the Davis, House, and Wilson libraries. Almost all classrooms are located in north campus along with several undergraduate residence halls. Middle campus includes Fetzer Field and Woollen Gymnasium along with the Student Recreation Center, Kenan Memorial Stadium, Irwin Belk outdoor track, Eddie Smith Field House, Boshamer Stadium, Carmichael Auditorium, Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, School of Government, School of Law, George Watts Hill Alumni Center, Ram's Head complex (with a dining hall, parking garage, grocery store, and gymnasium), and various residence halls. South campus includes the Dean Smith Center for men's basketball, Koury Natatorium, School of Medicine, UNC Hospitals, Kenan–Flagler Business School, and the newest student residence halls.

A new satellite campus, Carolina North, to be built on the site of Horace Williams Airport was approved in 2007. This is planned to be primarily a research park with expanded science facilities, but will also add classrooms and residence halls to cope with future increases in student population.

### Environment and sustainability

The principles of sustainability have been integrated throughout much of UNC-Chapel Hill. In the area of green building, the university requires that all new projects meet the requirements for LEED Silver certification and is in the process of building the first building in North Carolina to receive LEED Platinum status. UNC-Chapel Hill's award-winning co-generation facility produces one-fourth of the electricity and all of the steam used on campus. In 2006, the university and the Town of Chapel Hill jointly agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2050, becoming the first town-gown partnership in the country to do so. Through these efforts, the university achieved a "A−" grade on the Sustainable Endowment Institute's College Sustainability Report Card 2010. Only 14 out of 300 universities received a higher score than this.

The university has come under recent criticism for abandoning a promise to shutter its coal-fired power plant by 2020. The university has announced plans to become carbon neutral by 2050. In December 2019, the university was sued by the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity for violations of the Clean Air Act.

### McCorkle Place and Old Well

McCorkle Place, a green square on campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, commemorates Samuel Eusebius McCorkle, the inceptor and progenitor of the university.

A symbol of the university is the Old Well, a small neoclassical rotunda based on the Temple of Love in the Gardens of Versailles, in the same location as the original well that provided water for the school. The well stands at the south end of McCorkle Place, the northern quad, between two of the campus's oldest buildings, Old East, and Old West.

Also located in McCorkle Place is the Davie Poplar tree under which the university's founder, William Richardson Davie, supposedly selected the location for the university. The legend of the Davie Poplar says that as long as the tree stands, so will the university. Because of the tree's questionable health from damage caused by severe weather such as Hurricane Fran in 1996, the university has planted two genetic clones nearby called Davie Poplar Jr. and Davie Poplar III. The second clone, Davie Poplar III, was planted in conjunction with the university's bicentennial celebration in 1993. The student members of the university's Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies are not allowed to walk on the grass of McCorkle Place out of respect for the unknown resting place of Joseph Caldwell, the university's first president.

The Morehead–Patterson bell tower was commissioned by John Motley Morehead III, the benefactor of the Morehead-Cain Scholarship. The hedge and surrounding landscape was designed by William C. Coker, botany professor and creator of the campus arboretum. Traditionally, seniors have the opportunity to climb the tower a few days prior to May commencement.

The historic Playmakers Theatre is located on Cameron Avenue between McCorkle Place and Polk Place. It was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, the same architect who renovated the northern façade of Old East in 1844. The east-facing building was completed in 1851 and initially served as a library and as a ballroom. It was originally named Smith Hall after North Carolina Governor General Benjamin Smith, who was a special aide to George Washington during the American Revolutionary War and was an early benefactor to the university. When the library moved to Hill Hall in 1907, the School of Law occupied Smith Hall until 1923. In 1925, the structure was renovated and used as a stage by the university theater group, the Carolina Playmakers. It has remained a theater to the present day. Louis Round Wilson wrote in 1957 that Playmakers Theatre is the "architectural gem of the campus." Playmakers Theatre was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973. Today, the building is a venue for student drama productions, concerts, and events sponsored by academic departments.

## Academics

### Curriculum

UNC-Chapel Hill offers 71 bachelor's, 107 master's and 74 doctoral degree programs. The university enrolls more than 28,000 students from all 100 North Carolina counties, the other 49 states, and 47 other countries. It is the third largest university in North Carolina, just behind North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in enrollment. State law requires that the percentage of students from North Carolina in each freshman class meet or exceed 82%. The student body consists of 17,981 undergraduate students and 10,935 graduate and professional students (as of Fall 2009). Racial and ethnic minorities comprise 30.8% of UNC-Chapel Hill's undergraduate population as of 2010 and applications from international students have more than doubled in the last five years (from 702 in 2004 to 1,629 in 2009). Eighty-nine percent of enrolling first year students in 2009 reported a GPA of 4.0 or higher on a weighted 4.0 scale. UNC-Chapel Hill students are strong competitors for national and international scholarships. The most popular majors at UNC-Chapel Hill are biology, business administration, psychology, media and journalism, and political science. UNC-Chapel Hill also offers 300 study abroad programs in 70 countries.

At the undergraduate level, all students must fulfill a number of general education requirements as part of the Making Connections curriculum, which was introduced in 2006. English, social science, history, foreign language, mathematics, and natural science courses are required of all students, ensuring that they receive a broad liberal arts education. The university also offers a wide range of first year seminars for incoming freshmen. After their second year, students move on to the College of Arts and Sciences, or choose an undergraduate professional school program within the schools of medicine, nursing, business, education, pharmacy, information and library science, public health, or media and journalism. Undergraduates are held to an eight-semester limit of study.

### Admissions

#### Undergraduate

UNC-Chapel Hill's admissions process is "most selective" according to U.S. News & World Report. For the Class of 2025 (enrolled fall 2021), UNC-Chapel Hill received 53,776 applications and accepted 10,347 (19.2%). Of those accepted, 4,689 enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 45.3%. UNC-Chapel Hill's freshman retention rate is 96.5%, with 91.9% going on to graduate within six years.

Of the 60% of enrolled freshmen in 2021 who submitted ACT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite score was between 29 and 33. Of the 15% of the incoming freshman class who submitted SAT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite scores were 1330-1500. In the 2020–2021 academic year, 20 freshman students were National Merit Scholars. The university is need-blind for domestic applicants.

### Department of Public Policy

The UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Public Policy, established in 2001, is a public policy program offering specializations in areas such as global health policy, education policy, tax policy, and social justice.

Established in 1979, the Curriculum in Public Policy Analysis was one of the first undergraduate degree programs in public policy, and a charter member of the national Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. It was augmented in 1991 by an interdisciplinary PhD Curriculum in Public Policy Analysis. In 1995 the two curricula were combined and began recruiting their own core faculty. In 2001 the combined curriculum became the present Department of Public Policy.

### Honor Code

The university has a longstanding Honor Code known as the "Instrument of Student Judicial Governance," supplemented by a mostly student-run Honor System to resolve issues with students accused of academic and conduct offenses against the university community. The Honor System is divided into three branches: the Student Attorney General Staff, the Honor Court, and the Honor System Outreach, and further bifurcated by constituency (Undergraduate Attorney General and Graduate and Professional Student Attorney General). The Attorneys General are appointed by their constituency's President to investigate all reports of Honor Code violations and determine whether or not to bring charges against the student as detailed in the "Instrument." The Attorney General is supported by a select staff of around 40 students, representative of the diversity of the student body. The Honor Court is led by the Chair, who is appointed by their constituency's President, and supported by Vice Chairs who adjudicate all students' hearings. The Honor Court as a whole is made up of some 80 selected students. The Honor System Outreach is a branch of the System solely devoted to promoting honor and integrity in the university community. UNC-Chapel Hill is the only public university, with the exception of the military academies, that has a completely student-run system from the beginning to the end of the process.

### Libraries

UNC-Chapel Hill's library system includes a number of individual libraries housed throughout the campus and holds more than 7.0 million volumes in total. UNC-Chapel Hill's North Carolina Collection (NCC) is the largest and most comprehensive collection of holdings about any single state nationwide. The unparalleled assemblage of literary, visual, and artifactual materials documents four centuries of North Carolina history and culture. The North Carolina Collection is housed in Wilson Library, named after Louis Round Wilson, along with the Southern Historical Collection, the Rare Books Collection, and the Southern Folklife Collection. The university is home to ibiblio, one of the world's largest collections of freely available information including software, music, literature, art, history, science, politics, and cultural studies.

The Davis Library, situated near the Pit, is the main library and the largest academic facility and state-owned building in North Carolina. It was named after North Carolina philanthropist Walter Royal Davis and opened on February 6, 1984. The first book checked out of Davis Library was George Orwell's 1984. The R.B. House Undergraduate Library is located between the Pit area and Wilson Library. It is named after Robert B. House, the Chancellor of UNC from 1945 to 1957, and opened in 1968. In 2001, the R.B. House Undergraduate Library underwent a \$9.9 million renovation that modernized the furnishings, equipment, and infrastructure of the building. Prior to the construction of Davis, Wilson Library was the university's main library, but now Wilson hosts special events and houses special collections, rare books, and temporary exhibits.

#### Documenting the American South

The library oversees Documenting the American South, a free public access website of "digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture." The project began in 1996. In 2009 the library launched the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, a statewide digital library, in partnership with other organizations.

### Rankings and reputation

For 2022, U.S. News & World Report ranks UNC-Chapel Hill tied for 5th among the public universities and tied for 28th among national universities in the United States. The Wall Street Journal ranked UNC-Chapel Hill 3rd best public university behind University of Michigan and UCLA.

The university was named a Public Ivy by Richard Moll in his 1985 book The Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities, and in later guides by Howard and Matthew Greene. Many of UNC-Chapel Hill's professional schools have achieved high rankings in publications such as Forbes magazine, as well as annual U.S. News & World Report surveys. In 2020, US News & World Report ranked the School of Medicine \#1 in primary care and \#23 in research. In 2016, U.S. News & World Report ranked UNC-Chapel Hill business school's MBA program as the 16th best in the nation. In the 2019 edition, U.S. News & World Report ranked the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health as the second best school of public health in the United States (behind Johns Hopkins and tied with Harvard). The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy was ranked \#1 among pharmacy schools in the United States in 2020 by U.S. News & World Report. In 2005, Business Week ranked UNC-Chapel Hill business school's Executive MBA program as the 5th best in the United States. UNC also offers an online MBA program, MBA@UNC, that is ranked \#1 in the country in 2019 for Best Online MBA Programs (tied with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University). Other highly ranked schools include journalism and mass communication, law, library and information science, medicine, dentistry, and city and regional planning. Nationally, UNC-Chapel Hill is in the top ten public universities for research. Internationally, the 2016 QS World University Rankings ranked North Carolina 78th in the world (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings).

Kiplinger's Personal Finance in 2015 ranked UNC-Chapel Hill as the number one "best value" public college in the country. The university also topped The Princeton Review's list of the Best Value Colleges in 2014. Similarly, the university is first among public universities and ninth overall in "Great Schools, Great Prices", on the basis of academic quality, net cost of attendance and average student debt.

The university is also a large recipient of National Institute of Health grants and funds. For fiscal year 2020, the university received \$509.9 million in NIH funds for research. This amount makes Chapel Hill the 10th overall recipient of research funds in the nation by the NIH.

### Scholarships

For decades, UNC-Chapel Hill has offered an undergraduate merit scholarship known as the Morehead-Cain Scholarship. Recipients receive full tuition, room and board, books, and funds for summer study for four years. Since the inception of the Morehead, 29 alumni of the program have been named Rhodes Scholars. Since 2001, North Carolina has also co-hosted the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program, a merit scholarship and leadership development program granting recipients full student privileges at both UNC-Chapel Hill and neighboring Duke University. Additionally, the university provides scholarships based on merit and leadership qualities, including the Carolina, Colonel Robinson, Johnston and Pogue Scholars programs.

In 2003, Chancellor James Moeser announced the Carolina Covenant, wherein UNC offers a debt free education to low-income students who are accepted to the university. The program was the first of its kind at a public university and the second overall in the nation (following Princeton University). About 80 other universities have since followed suit.

## Athletics

North Carolina's athletic teams are known as the Tar Heels. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sub-level for football), primarily competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports since the 1953–54 season. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, fencing, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

The NCAA refers to UNC-Chapel Hill as the "University of North Carolina" for athletics. As of Fall 2011, the university had won 40 NCAA team championships in six different sports, eighth all-time. These include twenty one NCAA championships in women's soccer, six in women's field hockey, four in men's lacrosse, six in men's basketball, one in women's basketball, and two in men's soccer. The Men's basketball team won its 6th NCAA basketball championship in 2017, the third for Coach Roy Williams since he took the job as head coach. UNC was also retroactively given the title of National Champion for the 1924 championship, but is typically not included in the official tally. Other recent successes include the 2011 College Cup in men's soccer, and four consecutive College World Series appearances by the baseball team from 2006 to 2009. In 1994, the university's athletic programs won the Sears Directors Cup "all-sports national championship" awarded for cumulative performance in NCAA competition. Consensus collegiate national athletes of the year from North Carolina include Rachel Dawson in field hockey; Phil Ford, Tyler Hansbrough, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, James Worthy and Michael Jordan in men's basketball; and Mia Hamm (twice), Shannon Higgins, Kristine Lilly, and Tisha Venturini in women's soccer.

### Mascot and nickname

The university's teams are nicknamed the "Tar Heels," in reference to the state's eighteenth century prominence as a tar and pitch producer. The nickname's cultural relevance, however, has a complex history that includes anecdotal tales from both the American Civil War and the American Revolution. The mascot is a live Dorset ram named Rameses, a tradition that dates back to 1924, when the team manager brought a ram to the annual game against Virginia Military Institute, inspired by the play of former football player Jack "The Battering Ram" Merrit. The kicker rubbed his head for good luck before a game-winning field goal, and the ram stayed. There is also an anthropomorphic ram mascot who appears at games. The modern Rameses is depicted in a sailor's hat, a reference to a United States Navy flight training program that was attached to the university during World War II.

### The Carolina Way

Basketball coach Dean Smith was widely known for his idea of "The Carolina Way", in which he challenged his players to, "Play hard, play smart, play together." "The Carolina Way" was an idea of excellence in the classroom, as well as on the court. In Coach Smith's book, The Carolina Way, former player Scott Williams said, regarding Dean Smith, "Winning was very important at Carolina, and there was much pressure to win, but Coach cared more about our getting a sound education and turning into good citizens than he did about winning."

The October 22, 2014 release of the Wainstein Report alleged institutionalized academic fraud that involved over 3,100 students and student athletes, over an 18-year period from 1993 to 2011 that began during the final years of the Dean Smith era, challenged "The Carolina Way" image. The report alleged that at least 54 players during the Dean Smith era were enrolled in what came to be known as "paper classes." The report noted that the questionable classes began in the spring of 1993, the year of Smith's final championship, so those grades would not have been entered until after the championship game was played. In response to the allegations of the Wainstein report, the NCAA launched their own investigation and on June 5, 2015 the NCAA accused the institution of five major violations including: “two instances of unethical conduct and failure to cooperate“ as well as “unethical conduct and extra benefits related to student-athletes' access to and assistance in the paper courses; unethical conduct by the instructor/counselor for providing impermissible academic assistance to student-athletes; and a failure to monitor and lack of institutional control". In October, 2017, the NCAA issued its findings and concluded "that the only violations in this case are the department chair's and the secretary's failure to cooperate."

### Rivalries

The South's Oldest Rivalry between North Carolina and its first opponent, the University of Virginia, was prominent throughout the first third of the twentieth century. The 119th meeting in football between two of the top public universities in the east occurred in October 2014.

One of the fiercest rivalries is with Durham's Duke University. Located only eight miles from each other, the schools regularly compete in both athletics and academics. The Carolina-Duke rivalry is most intense, however, in basketball. With a combined eleven national championships in men's basketball, both teams have been frequent contenders for the national championship for the past thirty years. The rivalry has been the focus of several books, including Will Blythe's To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever and was the focus of the HBO documentary Battle for Tobacco Road: Duke vs Carolina. Duke was Carolina's biggest rival from the 1930s until the early 1960s, when Duke's declining athletic program shifted Carolina's rival focus to North Carolina State.

Carolina holds an in-state rivalry with fellow Tobacco Road school, North Carolina State University. Since the mid-1970s, however, the Tar Heels have shifted their attention to Duke following a severe decline in NC State's basketball program (and the resurgence of Duke's basketball program) that reached rock bottom during Roy Williams' tenure as evidenced by their 4–36 record against the Tar Heels. The Wolfpack faithful still consider the rivalry the most bitter in the state despite the fact that it's been decades since Tar Heel supporters have acknowledged NC State as a rival. Combined, the two schools hold eight NCAA Championships and 27 ACC Championships in basketball. Students from each school often exchange pranks before basketball and football games.

### Rushing Franklin

While students previously held "Beat Duke" parades on Franklin Street before sporting events, today students and sports fans have been known to spill out of bars and residence halls upon the victory of one of Carolina's sports teams. In most cases, a Franklin Street "bonfire" celebration is due to a victory by the men's basketball team, although other Franklin Street celebrations have stemmed from wins by the women's basketball team and women's soccer team. The first known student celebration on Franklin Street came after the 1957 men's basketball team capped their perfect season with a national championship victory over the Kansas Jayhawks. From then on, students have flooded the street after important victories. After a Final Four victory in 1981 and the men's basketball team won the 1982 NCAA Championship, Franklin Street was painted blue by the fans who had rushed the street. This event has led local vendors to stop selling Carolina blue paint as the Tar Heels near the national championship.

### School colors

Since the beginning of intercollegiate athletics at UNC in the late nineteenth century, the school's colors have been blue and white. The colors were chosen years before by the Dialectic (blue) and Philanthropic (white) Societies, the oldest student organization at the university. The school had required participation in one of the clubs, and traditionally the "Di"s were from the western part of North Carolina while the "Phi"s were from the eastern part of the state.

Society members would wear a blue or white ribbon at university functions, and blue or white ribbons were attached to their diplomas at graduation. On public occasions, both groups were equally represented, and eventually both colors were used by processional leaders to signify the unity of both groups as part of the university. When football became a popular collegiate sport in the 1880s, the Carolina football team adopted the light blue and white of the Di-Phi Societies as the school colors.

### School songs

Notable among a number of songs commonly played and sung at various events such as commencement, convocation, and athletic games are the university fight songs "I'm a Tar Heel Born" and "Here Comes Carolina". The fight songs are often played by the bell tower near the center of campus, as well as after major victories. "I'm a Tar Heel Born" originated in the late 1920s as a tag to the school's alma mater, "Hark The Sound". "Hark the Sound" was usually played at the end of games, but as of late it has been played at the beginning of games as well.

The Institute of Folk Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was founded by Lamar Stringfield in 1930, followed by the founding of the North Carolina Symphony in 1932.

## Student life

### Organizations and activities

Most student organizations at UNC-Chapel Hill are officially recognized and provided with assistance by the Carolina Union, an administrative unit of the university. Funding is derived from the student government student activity fee, which is allocated at the discretion of the Undergraduate Senate (UGS) or the Graduate and Professional Student Government Senate (GPSG Senate).

The largest student fundraiser, the UNC Dance Marathon, involves thousands of students, faculty, and community members in raising funds for the North Carolina Children's Hospital. The organization conducts fundraising and volunteer activities throughout the year and, as of 2008, had donated \$1.4 million since its inception in 1999.

The student-run newspaper The Daily Tar Heel is ranked highly by The Princeton Review, and received the 2004–5 National Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press. Founded in 1977, WXYC 89.3 FM is UNC-Chapel Hill's student radio station that broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Programming is left up to student DJs. WXYC typically plays little heard music from a wide range of genres and eras. On November 7, 1994, WXYC became the first radio station in the world to broadcast its signal over the internet. A student-run television station, STV, airs on the campus cable and throughout the Chapel Hill Spectrum system. Founded in 1948 as successor to the Carolina Magazine, the Carolina Quarterly, edited by graduate students, has published the works of numerous authors, including Wendell Berry, Raymond Carver, Don DeLillo, Annie Dillard, Joyce Carol Oates, and John Edgar Wideman. Works appearing in the Quarterly have been anthologized in Best American Short Stories and New Stories from the South and have won the Pushcart and O. Henry Prizes.

The Clef Hangers (also known as the Clefs) are the university's oldest a cappella group, founded by Barry Saunders in 1977. The group has since won several Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARAs), including Best Soloist in the song Easy, featured on the 2003 album Breeze. They have won two more CARAs for Best Male Collegiate Songs for My Love on Time Out (2008), and for Ain't Nothing Wrong on Twist (2009). Members have included Brendan James, who graduated in 2002, and Anoop Desai, who graduated in 2008. Since the spring of 2002, the Clef Hangers have sung each year at Commencement. They hold fall and spring concerts, sometimes featuring special guests.

The Residence Hall Association, the school's third-largest student-run organization, is dedicated to enhancing the experience of students living in residence halls. This includes putting on social, educational, and philanthropic programs for residents; recognizing outstanding residents and members; and helping residents develop into successful leaders. The organization is run by 8 student executive officers; 16 student governors that represent each residence hall community; and numerous community government members. RHA is the campus organization of NACURH, the largest student organization in the world. In 2010 the organization won the national RHA Building Block Award, which is awarded to the school with the most improved RHA organization.

The athletic teams at the university are supported by The Marching Tar Heels, the university's marching band. The entire 275-member volunteer band is present at every home football game, and smaller pep bands play at all home basketball games. Each member of the band is also required to play in at least one of five pep bands that play at athletic events of the 26 other sports.

UNC-Chapel Hill has a regional theater company in residence, the Playmakers Repertory Company, and hosts regular dance, drama, and music performances on campus. The school has an outdoor stone amphitheatre known as Forest Theatre used for weddings and drama productions. Forest Theatre is dedicated to Professor Frederick Koch, the founder of the Carolina Playmakers and the father American folk drama.

Many fraternities and sororities on campus belong to the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), Interfraternity Council (IFC), Greek Alliance Council, and National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC). As of spring 2010, eighteen percent of undergraduates were Greek (1146 men and 1693 women out of 17,160 total). The total number of community service hours completed for the 2010 spring semester by fraternities and sororities was 51,819 hours (average of 31 hours/person). UNC-Chapel Hill also offers professional and service fraternities that do not have houses but are still recognized by the school. Some of the campus honor societies include: the Order of the Golden Fleece, the Order of the Grail-Valkyries, the Order of the Old Well, the Order of the Bell Tower, and the Frank Porter Graham Honor Society.

Student Government at Carolina is composed of an executive branch headed by the student body president, two legislative branches representing Undergraduate and Graduate Students, and a judicial branch which includes the Honor Court and the Student Supreme Court established by the Supreme Court Act of 1968. This model was adopted after a constitutional referendum in 2016 which saw the single Student Government, broken into two constituencies: Undergraduate Student and Graduate and Professional Students. After surviving a challenge in the Student Supreme Court, the referendum vote was allowed to go ahead, and the present constitution was placed into effect in 2017. Each constituency has its own governing bodies, and there are governing bodies characterized as "joint" which may make laws and regulations pertaining to students of either constituency. The Joint Governing bodies are the office of the Student Body President, the Joint Governance Council, and the Student Supreme Court.

In 1974, the Judicial Reform Committee created the Instrument of Student Judicial Governance, which outlined the current Honor Code and its means for enforcement. The creation of the Instrument and the Judicial Reform Committee was preceded by a list of "Demands by the Black Student Movement" (BSM) which stated that "[e]ither Black students have full jurisdiction over all offenses committed by Black students or duly elected Black Students from BSM who would represent our interests be on the present Judiciary Courts." Most academic and conduct violations are handled by a single, student-run Honor System. Prior to that time, the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, along with other campus organizations such as the Men's Council, Women's Council, and Student Council supported student concerns.

UNC Chapel Hill also provides clubs and activities for first-generation college students: CSTEP - Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program, Carolina First, First Generation College Student Program, etc.

### Dining

Lenoir Dining Hall was completed in 1939 using funds from the New Deal Public Works Administration, and opened for service to students when they returned from Christmas holidays in January 1940. The building was named for General William Lenoir, the first chairman of the Board of Trustees of the university in 1790. Since its inception, Lenoir Dining Hall has remained the flagship of Carolina Dining Services and the center of dining on campus. It has been renovated twice, in 1984 and 2011, to improve seating and ease mealtime rushes.

Chase Hall was originally built in 1965 to offer South Campus dining options and honor former UNC President Harry Woodburn Chase, who served from 1919 to 1930. In 2005, the building was torn down to make way for the Student and Academic Services buildings, and was rebuilt north of the original location as the Rams Head Center (with the inner dining hall officially titled Chase Dining Hall). Due to students nicknaming the dining hall Rams Head, the university officially reinstated Chase Hall as the building name in March 2017. It includes the Chase Dining Hall, the Rams Head Market, and a conference room called the "Blue Zone". Chase Dining Hall seats 1,300 people and has a capacity for serving 10,000 meals per day. It continues to offer more food service options to the students living on south campus, and features extended hours including the 9 pm – 12 am period referred to as "Late Night".

### Housing

On campus, the Department of Housing and Residential Education manages thirty-two residence halls, grouped into thirteen communities. These communities range from Olde Campus Upper Quad Community which includes Old East Residence Hall, the oldest building of the university, to modern communities such as Manning West, completed in 2002. First year students are required to live in one of the eight "First Year Experience" residence halls, most of which are located on South Campus. In addition to residence halls, the university oversees an additional eight apartment complexes organized into three communities, Ram Village, Odum Village, and Baity Hill Student Family Housing. Along with themed housing focusing on foreign languages and substance-free living, there are also "living-learning communities" which have been formed for specific social, gender-related, or academic needs. An example is UNITAS, sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, where residents are assigned roommates on the basis of cultural or racial differences rather than similarities. Three apartment complexes offer housing for families, graduate students, and some upperclassmen. Along with the rest of campus, all residence halls, apartments, and their surrounding grounds are smoke-free. As of 2008, 46% of all undergraduates live in university-provided housing.

## Alumni

With over 300,000 living former students, North Carolina has one of the largest and most active alumni groups in America. Many Tar Heels have attained local, national, and international prominence. James K. Polk served as the 11th President of the United States, William R. King was the thirteenth Vice President of the United States. North Carolina has produced many United States Senators including Paul Wellstone and Thomas Lanier Clingman, along with multiple House Representatives such as Virginia Foxx and Ike Franklin Andrews. Algenon L. Marbley and Thomas Settle have received positions of federal judgeship. Former Secretary of War and Secretary of the Army Kenneth Claiborne Royall and the fifth White House Press Secretary Jonathan W. Daniels were graduates of North Carolina. North Carolina has also produced 38 state governors, including Terry Sanford, Jim Hunt, and Roy Cooper, the current Governor of North Carolina. Peaches Golding was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II as High Sheriff of the City and County of Bristol 2010–2011, the first Black female High Sheriff and second only black High Sheriff in over 1,000 years. Stormie Forte was appointed as the first Black woman and openly LGBTQ female member of the Raleigh City Council. Michael R. Nelson became the first openly gay mayor in North Carolina when he was elected as mayor of Carrboro in 1995. Carolyn Hunt served as the Second Lady of North Carolina and twice served as the First Lady of North Carolina. Margaret Rose Sanford served as First Lady of North Carolina. Betty Ray McCain served as the North Carolina Secretary of Culture and was the first woman to chair the North Carolina Democratic Party. James E. Webb, the 2nd Administrator of NASA and an architect of the Apollo program during the Kennedy administration, was a Tar Heel. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the successor of Hubble launched in December 2021, was named in honor of Webb.

Tar Heels have also made a mark on pop culture. Andy Griffith and John Forsythe became successful actors. Stuart Scott, Woody Durham, and Mick Mixon have become sportscasters. Civil War historian and writer Shelby Foote, sportswriter Peter Gammons, Pulitzer Prize winner Lenoir Chambers and comedian Lewis Black all graduated from North Carolina. Other notable writers who have attended UNC-Chapel Hill include Thomas Wolfe, who has a memorial on campus; National Book Award winners Walker Percy, Hayden Carruth, and Charles Frazier; Dos Passos Prize winner Russell Banks; National Book Critics Circle Award winner Ben Fountain; Pulitzer Prize finalist Lydia Millet; New Yorker columnist Joseph Mitchell; National Geographic writer John Patric; Armistead Maupin; and the notable poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Bollingen Prize winner Edgar Bowers.Television journalist Charles Kuralt, honored with three Peabody Awards, is a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate. Three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, political cartoonist Jeff MacNelly graduated from Carolina. Caleb Bradham, the inventor of the popular soft drink Pepsi-Cola, was a member of the Philanthropic Society and the class of 1890. Actor Ken Jeong attended UNC's School of Medicine, joining the small group of performers and personalities who also possess doctorates. Brooke Baldwin anchors CNN's Newsroom and graduated from UNC in 2001. Pamela Brown serves as CNN's Senior White House Correspondent. Pulitzer Prize winner and creator of the 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones achieved her master's degree from UNC in 2003.

Tar Heels have made their mark on the basketball court with Southern Methodist University head coach Larry Brown, title winning coach Roy Williams, Charlotte Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak, college player of the year award winners George Glamack, Lennie Rosenbluth, Antawn Jamison, and Tyler Hansbrough, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Michael Jordan,James Worthy, Billy Cunningham, and Robert McAdoo, great defender Bobby Jones, and NBA All-Star Vince Carter. Other notable Tar Heels include football players Lawrence Taylor, Julius Peppers, Harris Barton, Hakeem Nicks, Mitchell Trubisky, and Dré Bly, soccer stars Mia Hamm, Ashlyn Harris, Heather O'Reilly, Meghan Klingenberg, Whitney Engen, Allie Long, Lori Chalupny, Crystal Dunn and Tobin Heath, baseball standouts Dustin Ackley, Matt Harvey, Andrew Miller, Kyle Seager, and B.J. Surhoff, and Olympians April Heinrichs and Vikas Gowda. Vic Seixas is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and won 15 Majors.

Many Tar Heels have become business leaders. The leaders include Jason Kilar, former CEO of Hulu; Howard R. Levine, chairman of the board and CEO of Family Dollar; Paul Kolton, chairman of the American Stock Exchange; Julian Robertson, founder of Tiger Management; Bill Ruger, founder of Sturm, Ruger; Warren Grice Elliott, former president of Atlantic Coast Line Railroad; Allen B. Morgan Jr., founder and former CEO of Morgan Keegan & Company; Ken Thompson, former chairman and CEO of Wachovia; Hugh McColl, former CEO of Bank of America; Sallie Krawcheck, former CFO of Citigroup ,William Johnson, the current president and CEO of Progress Energy, John A. Allison IV, former CEO of BB&T,, Marvin Sands, founder and CEO of Constellation Brands, Ritch Allison, CEO of Dominos Pizza, Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco, Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity, and Michelle Buck, CEO of The Hershey Company, William H. Rogers Jr., CEO of SunTrust Banks, William B. Harrison Jr., former CEO of JPMorgan Chase, and Peter Grauer, Chairman of Bloomberg.

## See also

- List of colleges and universities in North Carolina

Public university in North Carolina, U.S.

Buildings and structures in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, North Carolina

Educational institutions established in 1789

Flagship universities in the United States

Public universities and colleges in North Carolina

Tourist attractions in Orange County, North Carolina

Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools