By dying on October 12, the 219th anniversary of the university’s founding,
UNC President Emeritus William Friday once again turned a seeming defeat
into a victory.
It was, some were saying, just like Presidents Jefferson and Adams, dying
on the same day, July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the nation’s
founding.
Friday’s death leaves the state with a vacancy in the role he played as the
state’s public elder who was wise and energetic, our trusted prophet and
pastor.
Friday did not become our state’s prophet by divine ordination. He earned
it through hard years of bruising struggles in the public arena. He did not
always win, but he had an amazing ability to do two things: (1) turn
apparent defeats into important and lasting victories, and (2) after even
the bitterest battle, reach out and turn his opponents into friends and
allies in common endeavors.
Here are some examples:
1. The 1961 crackdown on athletics. Some hard-core athletic fans may not
have forgiven Friday for cancelling the Dixie Classic basketball tournament
after several N.C. State players were implicated in a point-shaving
scandal. Friday’s controversial decision signaled that no matter how
popular and profitable university athletics may be, they cannot be allowed
to corrupt or supplant the university’s mission of education and service.
Friday’s action also gave notice of his decisiveness and resolve.
2. The Speaker Ban Law of 1963. For all his friendships and political
savvy, Friday was unable to stop the General Assembly from enacting the law
that prohibited “known members” of the Communist Party from speaking on
university campuses. Nor was he able to persuade the state’s leadership to
make a quick turnaround. But, in the end, his behind-the-scenes maneuvering
helped bring down the law, leaving a widespread consensus on the value of
free speech.
3. The 1971 merger of all the state’s public colleges and universities into
the University of North Carolina. People forget that bringing campuses into
one state agency was not Friday’s idea. In fact, he and his board fought
against it. But when the decision was made, Friday demanded excellence and
provided the strong leadership that made our multi-campus state university
the envy of every state in the union. His actions in taking charge after
the restructuring showed an effective administrative style. According to
his biographer, William Link, “That style embodied the qualities of
Friday’s personality: gregariousness and sensitivity, idealism and
cold-hearted efficiency, and unassuming accessibility and constant
communication with the state and national power structure. Friday had an
innate interest in people and an inherent ability to relate to them.”
4. The establishment of a medical school at East Carolina University.
Friday initially fought a new medical school there, but when he recognized
its inevitability, according to Link, he determined to make it “as fine a
school as you can make it.” While pushing for adequate funding for ECU’s
medical school, he used the legislature’s enhanced attention to health
education to fund expansion of the Chapel Hill medical school and the
establishment of “the most ambitious AHEC (Area Health and Education
Centers) program in the nation.” Link writes that the ECU controversy
demonstrated “Friday’s ability to adapt to new circumstances.”
5. The long controversy with the U.S. Department of Health, Education and
Welfare over desegregation. Almost forgotten today, Link writes, “Managing
the desegregation controversy became the greatest challenge of Bill
Friday’s leadership and certainly one of the gravest tests the University
of North Carolina had encountered in its two centuries of existence.”
Once again, Friday’s resiliency in responding to what could be
characterized as a series of defeats, resulted in strengthening the
university and solidifying his reputation for steady leadership.
William Friday’s victories are too numerous to mention. But it is his
powerful example of turning defeats into lasting achievements that will
always inspire me.
D.G. Martin hosts “North Carolina Bookwatch,” which airs Fridays at 9:30
p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV. For more information or to view prior
programs visit the webpage at www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch/ A grant from the
North Carolina Humanities Council provides crucial support for North
Carolina Bookwatch.
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