Chronology

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1. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

2. 1948–1951
   Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill William Friday serves as assistant dean of students at UNC in Chapel Hill

   After receiving his law degree from UNC in 1948, William Friday was assistant dean of students and later acting dean of students on the Chapel Hill campus until 1951, when he became assistant to Consolidated University president Gordon Gray.

3. March 1, 1956
   Appointment, election or service · South Building, Chapel Hill William Friday becomes acting president of the Consolidated University

   Named acting president at 35 while the trustees searched for Gordon Gray's successor, Friday began his duties on March 1, 1956. The board approved him as president on October 26, 1956, and at his first news conference he named moving the administrative offices from South Building on the Chapel Hill campus to the old Institute of Government building on Franklin Street as a first goal.

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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 4, 2026.