Chronology

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1. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

2. December 1792
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill A trustee committee under Samuel McCorkle reports the university's first plan of studies

   Named at New Bern on December 4, 1792, the committee proposed teaching languages with English first, history, mathematics, natural philosophy, botany, agriculture and architecture, and buying scientific apparatus. A newspaper notice of December 12 inviting teachers for this course drew no applicants.

3. October 12, 1793
   Construction or physical change · Chapel Hill Old East cornerstone is laid

   William Richardson Davie and fellow trustees laid Old East’s cornerstone; October 12 is observed as University Day.

4. January 10, 1794
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill Trustees adopt the plan of instruction and set the university's opening for January 15

   The board ordered the McCorkle committee's scheme into effect, fixed tuition by subject and created a presiding professor at $300 a year plus fees. It also resolved to build a steward's house before the opening and set a bill of fare for Commons with no drink but water.

5. February 6, 1795
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill Trustees adopt the university's first by-laws

   Drafted by Samuel McCorkle and amended in committee, the by-laws set four classes, prayers at sunrise and evening, a monitor in each class to report absences and misconduct, and punishments from admonition to expulsion. Students could not keep liquor in their rooms or gamble.

6. December 1795
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill Trustees adopt William R. Davie's plan dividing the university into a preparatory school and professorships

   Davie's plan put English at the center, let French stand beside the classics and set up chairs of moral and political philosophy, natural philosophy, mathematics, chemistry with agriculture and the mechanic arts, and languages. The board elected Samuel McCorkle a professor, but he declined when refused extra pay in place of the president's house.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 2, 2026.