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Residence colleges and Hinton James, 1965–1971

How UNC grouped its dormitories into residence colleges from 1965 to 1969 and built Hinton James: Morehead, Morrison and Scott colleges, the provisional college areas, the ten-story hall on Manning Drive, classes in the halls, the experimental colleges with faculty fellows and Project Hinton’s coed floors.

UNC's residence college system began in March 1965 with Morehead College, and that year Morrison Residence Hall opened, Scott Residence College was dedicated and Chancellor Paul F. Sharp grouped the remaining men's halls into provisional colleges. Ground was broken in 1966 for the ten-story Hinton James Residence Hall, named for the first student to reach Chapel Hill, and it opened in 1967 to about 1,000 men. The colleges' names became official in 1967 and classes began meeting in residence halls, and in 1968 Scott and Hinton James were chosen for experimental programs with faculty fellows. In 1969 Project Hinton put women and men on neighboring floors of Hinton James in a living-learning experiment. Hinton James became coeducational in 1971, the year Project Hinton was suspended.

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On March 31, 1965 the officers and senators of Morehead College, made up of Lewis, Everett, Stacy, Graham and Aycock halls, were installed in what the Daily Tar Heel called the official kickoff of UNC's residence college system. Morrison Residence Hall, a men's dormitory for 1,042 named for former governor Cameron Morrison, opened that fall, and by late October the University had named its next residence hall, planned for Manning Drive, for Hinton James, the first student to reach Chapel Hill in 1795. On October 31 Lieutenant Governor Robert W. Scott dedicated Scott Residence College, made up of Avery, Parker and Teague halls and named for his father, W. Kerr Scott. In November Chancellor Paul F. Sharp designated five provisional college areas for the 13 men's halls not yet in colleges, and men in the halls voted 1,606 to 588 to raise room rent $3.20 a semester, mostly to pay for the colleges. Ground was broken for the ten-story Hinton James hall on February 6, 1966, at the end of a 140-mile relay hike from Burgaw, a $3 million federal loan for it was approved in March, and work began on June 9.

In January 1967 the University made official the names of its residential colleges, Morrison, Davie, Ehringhaus, Craige, Hinton James and King, and in February two classes began meeting in residence halls as an experiment. Morrison Residence College was dedicated on April 9, and that September Hinton James opened as a residence college of its own to about 1,000 men, most of them freshmen. In 1968 the Rev. Harry E. Smith became the chancellor's special assistant for residence colleges, and Scott and Hinton James were chosen for experimental programs with at least three faculty fellows each. Project Hinton, approved in February 1969, opened that fall with 51 women on the tenth floor and 92 men on the ninth in a living-learning experiment with shared meals and a course taught in the building. In December the Scott College Senate approved a Physical Plant plan to have students clean their own rooms and cut the maid and janitor staff in its halls by a third, though about 80 Parker women had petitioned against it. In March 1971 the University decided to make Hinton James coeducational that fall, with about 225 women among 720 men, but in August an advisory committee suspended Project Hinton for 1971-72, citing the lack of a director and faculty fellows, the fall overenrollment and low sign-ups.

In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 20 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Morehead Residence College installs officers as the residence college system begins Officers and fifteen senators of Morehead College, made up of Lewis, Everett, Stacy, Graham and Aycock halls, were installed in the Graham basement in what the Daily Tar Heel called the official kickoff of the residence college system, with Dean of Student Affairs C. O. Cathey and Dean of Men William G. Long speaking. The Graham basement was to be renovated as a $3,600 social room, paid mostly by the University. Place: Graham Residence Hall, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: C. O. Cathey, William G. LongSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, April 2, 1965, p. 1
  2. Morrison Residence Hall opens, named for Cameron Morrison The university completed Morrison Residence Hall, a men's dormitory for 1,042 students, in 1965 and named it for former governor Cameron Morrison, an influential trustee who had backed the university's expansion program in the 1920s. The Daily Tar Heel reported in August that the hall would open that September, with work still going on, and students were living there by early October. People: Cameron Morrison Place: Morrison Residence Hall, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Carolina Story: Cameron Morrison (1869-1953) and Morrison Residence Hall · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, August 19, 1965, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, October 2, 1965, p. 2
  3. Lieutenant Governor Robert W. Scott dedicates Scott Residence College Nearly 400 people saw Lieutenant Governor Robert W. Scott dedicate the residence college of Avery, Parker and Teague halls, named for his father, Governor and Senator W. Kerr Scott. Scott said trustees should control university policy, Chancellor Paul F. Sharp said the residence college system would take in all men's halls within a year if students backed it, and Mrs. W. Kerr Scott dedicated the new Teague social room. People: Robert W. Scott, Paul F. Sharp Place: Teague, Avery and Parker residence halls, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: W. Kerr ScottSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, November 2, 1965, p. 1
  4. UNC names a new south campus residence hall for Hinton James By late October 1965 the university had named its next residence hall, planned for Manning Drive past Ehringhaus and Craige, for Hinton James, the first student to reach Chapel Hill in 1795. Ground was broken under that name on February 6, 1966, and the ten-story hall was built in 1967. It houses 964 students in eight-person suites. People: Hinton James Place: UNC, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Manning DriveSearch the index · UNC Carolina Housing: Hinton James Residence Hall · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, October 28, 1965, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, January 5, 1966, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, February 8, 1966, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, March 27, 1966, p. 1
  5. Chancellor Sharp extends the residence college plan to all men's halls Chancellor Paul F. Sharp designated five provisional residence college areas for the 13 men's halls not yet in colleges, holding their funds in escrow until each set up a sound government. Two days later men in the residence halls voted 1,606 to 588 to raise room rent $3.20 a semester, mostly to pay for the colleges. People: Paul F. Sharp Place: Men's residence halls, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, November 21, 1965, p. 1
  6. UNC breaks ground for Hinton James Residence Hall UNC broke ground for the ten-story Hinton James Residence Hall on Manning Drive across from Chase Cafeteria, with President William C. Friday, Chancellor Paul F. Sharp and descendants of Hinton James taking part. The ceremony ended a 140-mile Heart Fund relay hike from Burgaw by residents of Craige's Maverick House, retracing the walk James is said to have made in 1795 to become the first student. People: William C. Friday, Paul F. Sharp Place: Manning Drive across from Chase Cafeteria, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Hinton James Residence HallSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, February 8, 1966, p. 1
  7. A $3 million federal loan is approved for the Hinton James residence hall Congressman Horace Kornegay announced a $3 million federal college housing loan from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the ten-story, 1,000-student Hinton James residence hall on the new south campus across from Ehringhaus, named for the University's first student. Work had to begin within two months for completion by the fall of 1967, with H. L. Coble of Greensboro as general contractor. Place: South campus, across from Ehringhaus, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Horace Kornegay · Also mentions: Hinton James residence hallSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, March 27, 1966, p. 1
  8. Construction begins on Hinton James Residence Hall Work began on June 9, 1966, on the ten-story residence hall south of Ehringhaus that would be named for Hinton James. By mid-October all ten floors were up, a month ahead of schedule, on a building meant to house 1,009 men the next fall. Place: South campus, south of Ehringhaus, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, October 19, 1966, p. 1
  9. UNC makes the names of its residential colleges and their houses official After almost a year of waiting, the University officially approved names for its residential colleges: Morrison, Davie, Ehringhaus, Craige and Hinton James, with the upper quad becoming King Residential College. Morrison's houses kept the names submitted, from Armstrong to Iredell, Hinton James's houses were given Greek letters, and the postponed Morrison dedication was set for February 18 and 19. Place: University campus, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, January 12, 1967, p. 1
  10. UNC begins holding classes in Morrison and Granville residence halls As an experiment of the residential college program, two University classes began meeting in residence halls, John Semonche's Modern Civilization section in a Morrison social room and James Devereux's English class in Granville West, while a Classics seminar met at the Faculty Club. The Daily Tar Heel called it the first time classes met in the residence halls and the first time women students were regularly allowed on a residence hall's living floors. Place: Morrison and Granville West residence halls, Chapel Hill · Also named: John Semonche, James DevereuxSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, February 1, 1967, p. 1
  11. UNC dedicates Morrison Residence College After several postponements, Morrison Residence College was formally dedicated with talks by Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson, Dean of Men William G. Long and the college's student governors. Sitterson compared the college's pioneering to that of Governor Cameron Morrison, for whom it was named. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson Place: Morrison Residence Hall and Chase Dining Hall, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: William G. Long, Cameron MorrisonSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, April 11, 1967, p. 1
  12. Hinton James residence hall opens to 1,000 men The new high-rise Hinton James dormitory on South Campus opened for the fall term to about 1,000 men, most of them freshmen, as a residence college of its own; it took in many of the men displaced from Battle-Vance-Pettigrew. Davie Hall for psychology and a dental sciences research wing also opened that fall. Place: Hinton James residence hall, South Campus, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Davie Hall, South CampusSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, September 12, 1967, p. 1
Show all 20 dated events
  1. The Rev. Harry E. Smith is named the chancellor's special assistant for residence colleges Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson announced that Smith, Presbyterian campus pastor since 1954, would serve for the coming year as his special assistant for residence colleges, directing experimental programs to give students some of the advantages of a small college. The plan came from a two-year student-faculty-administration study; Scott College would join Avery and Teague halls with Parker Hall for women. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson Place: UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Harry E. SmithSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, March 1, 1968, p. 1
  2. Scott and Hinton James are chosen as experimental residence colleges with faculty fellows The Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Residential Colleges, chaired by Samuel S. Hill, chose Scott College, coeducational the next year with women in Parker Hall, and Hinton James, with its many freshmen, for experimental programs in 1968-69 that would place at least three faculty fellows in each. Place: Scott and Hinton James residence colleges, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Samuel S. HillSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, March 16, 1968, p. 1
  3. UNC approves Project Hinton, putting women on the top floors of Hinton James The administration approved its advisory committee's plan to make the top four floors of Hinton James a coeducational living-learning unit in fall 1969, with 200 women and a housemother on the top two floors and 200 men below. Craige was to become a coeducational graduate residence, and residents of both dormitories protested being moved out. Place: Hinton James Residence Hall, University, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, February 25, 1969, p. 1
  4. Project Hinton opens coed floors at Hinton James Fifty-one women on the tenth floor and 92 men on the ninth floor of Hinton James began Project Hinton, a living-learning experiment with shared meals, a course taught in the building and apartments for resident counselors, with the stairways between the two floors closed off. Chancellor Sitterson had authorized the project on May 7 although far fewer students signed up than planned. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson Place: Hinton James Residence Hall, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, September 16, 1969, p. 15
  5. Scott Residence College approves a University plan to cut its maid and janitor staff The Scott College Senate approved the Physical Plant's experiment, to begin in January, in which maids and janitors in Parker, Teague and Avery would clean only halls, bathrooms and social rooms while students swept their own rooms, cutting the dormitory staff by a third to hold down room rents. About 80 Parker women had petitioned against it as a first step toward putting about a hundred workers out of jobs; the Physical Plant said those moved would keep their pay in new buildings. Place: Parker, Teague and Avery dormitories, UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Physical PlantSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, December 7, 1969, p. 1
  6. UNC decides to make Hinton James dormitory coeducational and turn Winston into a men's dorm Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson's office announced that Hinton James would house about 225 women among 720 men from September, with Winston dormitory converted to men's housing to free the space, and that the Project Hinton living-learning experiment would continue on James's top floors. Residence life director Robert Kepner said James residents had pressed for the change to make the remote South Campus dorm a more wholesome place to live. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson Place: Hinton James and Winston residence halls, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Robert Kepner · Also mentions: South CampusThe Daily Tar Heel, March 26, 1971, p. 1
  7. UNC suspends Project Hinton, its coed living-and-learning experiment An advisory committee suspended Project Hinton, the two-year-old coeducational living and student-course program on the ninth and tenth floors of Hinton James dormitory, for 1971-72. Claiborne S. Jones, assistant to the chancellor, cited the lack of a director and faculty fellows, the fall overenrollment and low sign-ups, while former members said about 200 students had wanted to take part and many had not been told. People: E. M (Elie Maynard) Adams Place: Hinton James Dormitory, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Claiborne S. JonesThe Daily Tar Heel, September 9, 1971, p. 1
  8. Residents vote to dissolve King Residence College Residents of Spencer, Ruffin, Grimes, Manly and Mangum dormitories voted 186 to 11 to dissolve King Residence College, one of the residence colleges set up in 1965-66, return the dorms to independent status and divide the college fund among them. Scott Residence College voted 192 to 22 on February 3 to decentralize, and Morehead College began drafting a similar change. Place: King Residence College (Spencer, Ruffin, Grimes, Manly and Mangum dormitories), Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, February 2, 1972, p. 1

Places in this history

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

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Reading on the places and people in this storyline

No indexed work is about this storyline itself yet. These are about the sites and people its dated events name, those named most often first, so they may discuss the storyline only in part. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.

About Paul F. Sharp · named in 4 of this story’s entries

Progress and protests : UNC-Chapel Hill leaders during "the Long Sixties" (1957-1972) : covering chancellors William Brantley Aycock, Paul F. Sharp, and J. Carlyle Sitterson

Roundtree, Lynn · 2024 · Lynn Roundtree

Lynn Roundtree covers the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between 1957 and 1972 through its three chancellors, William Brantley Aycock, Paul F. Sharp and J. Carlyle Sitterson, set against the student movements of those years. Part of the Coates university leadership series, published by the author in 2024 and running to 926 pages. It is twentieth century campus history.

UNC

Proclamation : to all to whom these presents may come, greetings

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · 1965 · University of North Carolina

A broadside poster, 59 by 40 cm, in which the University of North Carolina proclaimed Tuesday, October 12, 1965 to be University Day, honoring Chancellor Paul Sharp and marking the one hundred seventieth anniversary of the university's founding at Chapel Hill. Sharp lived from 1918 to 2009.

UNC

Univerity Day honoring Chancellor Paul Frederick Sharp : Chapel Hill, North Carolina, October twelfth, nineteen hundred and sixty-five

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · 1965 · The University of North Carolina

Printed program for University Day at Chapel Hill, October 12, 1965, when the university honored Chancellor Paul Frederick Sharp. Its three unnumbered pages (32 cm) give the words to 'America,' 'Hark the sound' and 'O God! our help in ages past' and list the organizing committee. Published by the University of North Carolina.

UNC

Records of the Office of Chancellor : Paul Frederick Sharp series, 1964-1966.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Office of the Chancellor · 1964

Paul F. Sharp held the chancellor's office at Chapel Hill for a short span, and this series of his files covers 1964 to 1966 in about 13,200 items and 16.5 linear feet, in the University Archives at UNC, collection 40021. Topics include academic freedom in North Carolina and the state's Speaker Ban Law, with curriculum planning, medical education and health occupations schools.

UNC

About J. Carlyle Sitterson · named in 4 of this story’s entries

Oral history interview with Ashley Davis, April 12, 1974: interview E-0062, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Davis, Ashley · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Ashley Davis, who entered UNC in 1968 and joined the Black Student Movement, recalls the 1969 strike by the university's cafeteria workers and the BSM's decision to stand with them when the workers asked. Recorded April 12, 1974, by Russell Rymer for the Southern Oral History Program, the hour-and-a-half interview touches on Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson, the Southern Student Organizing Committee and race relations among students on campus. Published online in 2007 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

The coy mistress caper.

1966 · Time Inc

A four page article clipped from Life, volume 61, number 20, dated November 11, 1966, on a dispute over academic freedom at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The article concerns the instructor Michael Paull, Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson, Jesse Helms and Andrew Marvell's poem 'To His Coy Mistress'. Illustrated, with portraits.

UNC

Oral history interview with J. Carlyle Sitterson, November 4 and 6, 1987 interview L-0030, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).

Sitterson, J. Carlyle · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Southern Oral History Program interview with J. Carlyle Sitterson (1911-1995), chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1966, recorded by Pamela Dean on November 4 and 6, 1987, and running an hour and a half. Sitterson recalls the university in the 1960s: student demands over visitation rules, dress codes and privacy, the student movement, and the integration of the faculty. Interview L-0030 in collection #4007, published online in 2007 in Documenting the American South's Oral Histories of the American South.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library Photographic Services photographs, 1976-2003.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Photographic Services · 1976

Photographs produced by the Photographic Services unit of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library between 1976 and 2003, about 2,500 items in the North Carolina Collection at UNC. Includes a run of copy negatives, 1977 to 2006. Subjects include William Aycock, Doris Betts, Reynolds Price, Dean Smith, William S. Powell and Hugh Morton.

UNC

About Hinton James · named in 2 of this story’s entries

"Superlatives" slide show

Morton, Hugh M. · 1970

Exterior of Hinton James, the high-rise dormitory at UNC-Chapel Hill, in a color slide from February 1970. Hugh Morton put it in a slide show he called Superlatives, which came with no notes on what made each subject superlative.

Hinton James, the first student of the University of North Carolina : extracts from an address by President Battle, on University Day, October 12th, 1880

Battle, Kemp P. (Kemp Plummer), 1831-1919 · 1887

Extracts from an address President Kemp P. Battle gave on University Day, 12 October 1880, about Hinton James, the first student to enroll at the University of North Carolina. The passage was detached from the University magazine for October 1887. It concerns student biography at Chapel Hill and North Carolina biography more broadly.

UNC
Wider background: UNC & Campus Life · the most widely held histories of the theme this story belongs to; they may not discuss it

Carolina Basketball: A Century of Excellence

Lucas, Adam · 2010 · University of North Carolina Press

Adam Lucas marks one hundred years of basketball at the University of North Carolina in this illustrated history, published by UNC Press in 2010 in association with the athletics department. Chapters follow the program from the game's arrival on campus and the 'White Phantoms' of the Southern Conference through the founding of the ACC, the 1957 season, Dean Smith's changes to the game and the title seasons of 1982, 1993, 2005 and 2009, closing with a century of statistics. 289 pages.

The Blue Divide: Duke, North Carolina, and the Battle on Tobacco Road

Moore, Johnny; Chansky, Art · 2014 · Triumph Books

The Duke and North Carolina basketball rivalry written together by Johnny Moore and Art Chansky, the latter a sports reporter who has followed it since his student days at UNC. The book opens with the 2014 season and moves through recruiting battles old and new, 'Black and Blue Sunday', 'Blood and Roses', and chapters on the rivalry's heroes, leaders and teachers, with a foreword by Jay Bilas and a photo gallery. Published by Triumph Books in 2014, 289 pages.

Miss Mary's Money

Jones, H. G. · 2014 · McFarland & Co.

H. G. Jones follows the fortune of Mary Ruffin Smith (1814-1885), the unmarried heiress whose Orange and Chatham County lands passed at her death to the University of North Carolina and the Episcopal Church. Chapters profile her grandfather Francis Jones, then trace the bequest through a quarrel among Episcopalians over Price Creek, the Chapel of the Cross and the university's buildings. A December 1885 New York Times report called the gift money; Jones shows it was land. Published by McFarland in 2014, 231 pages.

The Chronicles of the Bicentennial Observance of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Tepper, Steven J. · 1998

Steven J. Tepper's chronicle of how the University of North Carolina marked its bicentennial in 1993 and 1994. An appendix reprints the University Day speeches of October 12, 1993, given by Paul Hardin, James B. Hunt Jr., C.D. Spangler, William C. Friday, Charles Kuralt and President Bill Clinton, plus bicentennial addresses by Li Lu, Francis S. Collins and Richard J. Richardson. Published by the university in Chapel Hill, 1998; 284 pages.

Show 6 more

William Friday

Link, William A. · 1995

Biography of William C. Friday, president of the University of North Carolina system, by historian William A. Link, published by UNC Press in 1995 with the subtitle power, purpose, and American higher education. It covers Friday's career and the history of the university at Chapel Hill and statewide. Part of the Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection.

Chapel Hill in Plain Sight

Athas, Daphne · 2010 · Eno Publishers

Twelve essays by novelist Daphne Athas (1923-2020) on the Chapel Hill she knew across the twentieth century. Subjects include Carrboro as 'the Paris of the Piedmont', philosopher Horace Williams, Betty Smith writing in Chapel Hill, Junius Scales, Ab Abernethy and the Intimate Bookshop, Richard Wright's visit, and a set of Chapel Hill murders. Published 2010, 243 pages with illustrations.

What it means to be a Tar Heel: Roy Williams and North Carolina's greatest players

Fowler, Scott · 2010 · Triumph Books

Scott Fowler gathers recollections from Carolina basketball players, decade by decade from the 1950s to the 2000s, organized around Roy Williams and the question in the title. Contributors include Lennie Rosenbluth, Larry Brown, Billy Cunningham, Charlie Scott, Phil Ford, James Worthy, Brad Daugherty, Eric Montross, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Raymond Felton and Sean May, each entry giving position and playing years. Published 2010 by Triumph Books of Chicago, 270 pages, here as an e-book.

The Campus of the First State University

Henderson, Archibald · 1949

Archibald Henderson's history of the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, its buildings and grounds from the founding in the 1790s onward. Henderson, a professor of mathematics and a prolific historian of the university, wrote it in the years around the university's sesquicentennial. Published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1949, 412 pages with illustrations and bibliographical footnotes.

Reviewed in The Journal of Southern History (1949), South Atlantic Quarterly (1950).

The Woman Who Rang the Bell: The Story of Cornelia Spencer Phillips

Russell, Charles Phillips · 1949

Charles Phillips Russell's biography of Cornelia Phillips Spencer (1825-1908), the Chapel Hill writer remembered for ringing the bell of South Building when the university reopened in 1875 after its closure during Reconstruction. It doubles as a history of Chapel Hill and the university. Published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1949, 293 pages with illustrations.

Reviewed in Journal of American History (1949).

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