“I speak for all of us who could not afford to go to Duke, and would not have, even if we could have afforded it,” says UNC alumnus and journalist Charles Kuralt, joking before a cheering crowd in Kenan Stadium. Kuralt delivers his address before special guests like President Bill Clinton and Gov. Jim Hunt.
“What is it that binds us to this place as no other?” Kuralt asks the crowd. “It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. Or the crisp October nights or the memory of dogwoods blooming. Our loyalty is not only to William Richardson Davie, though we are proud of what he did 200 years ago today. Not even to Dean Smith, though we are proud of what he did last March. No, our love for this place is based on the fact that it is, as it was meant to be, the University of the people.”