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1. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

2. February 28, 1966
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill The UNC Board of Trustees adopts visiting-speaker procedures under the amended Speaker Ban

   Acting under G.S. 116-199 and 116-200, the full Board of Trustees adopted procedures requiring recognized student groups to clear invitations to covered speakers with the chancellor. The students complied with them when they renewed the Wilkinson and Aptheker invitations, and the court later found the procedures as vague as the statute.

3. February 21, 1967
   Law, policy or court · Greensboro (U.S. District Court, Middle District of North Carolina) A three-judge federal court hears arguments in Dickson v. Sitterson at Greensboro

   Judges Clement F. Haynsworth, Edwin M. Stanley and Algernon L. Butler heard 45 minutes a side in the U.S. Middle District courtroom. McNeill Smith called the law vague, ambiguous, unconstitutional and void on its face; W. T. Joyner Sr. answered for the University that the 1965 amendment had abolished the original ban. The court then held the case under advisement for a year.

4. February 19, 1968
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill A federal court struck down the Speaker Ban law in Dickson v. Sitterson

   A three-judge federal court in Greensboro ruled North Carolina's Speaker Ban law unconstitutional because it was too vague. The suit had been filed in March 1966 by UNC student leaders and the two barred speakers, Frank Wilkinson and Herbert Aptheker, and UNC's leaders hoped the ruling ended the long controversy.

5. February 22, 1968
   Law, policy or court · Raleigh Governor Moore recommends that the state and the trustees not appeal the Speaker Ban ruling

   Three days after the decision, Governor Dan K. Moore said the state should not appeal the federal court's finding that the law was unconstitutionally vague and recommended that the trustees not appeal either, voicing his hope that they and the administration would keep the campuses from being exploited as outlets of discord and strife.

6. February 26, 1968
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill The UNC trustees adopt six temporary speaker rules in place of the voided regulations

   A week after the ruling the trustees approved, over Senator Tom White's plea to proceed calmly, six interim rules on the manner of a speaker's appearance (a senior faculty member presiding at the chancellor's request, public forums, balanced views, audience questions, sponsorship by recognized student groups), with the items the court had struck removed, pending further study by the executive committee on March 8.

7. March 8, 1968
   Law, policy or court · Charlotte The trustees' executive committee asks Governor Moore to name a subcommittee on a permanent speaker policy

   Meeting in Charlotte, the Board of Trustees' Executive Committee voted to ask the governor to appoint a subcommittee to study speaker regulations and recommend a permanent policy to the full board in May. Senator Tom White, who agreed with the state's decision not to appeal, said the board had resolved nothing; President Friday hoped the matter would be settled by May.

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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 1, 2026.