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The year 2000 began with the question of who would become our next chancellor. It ended with a historic capital bond victory and the question laid down by Chancellor James Moeser: Why not the best? Here are some of the milestones of a year that was one of the most anticipated in campus history.
Dodging the binary bullet
Jan. 1: Y2K turns out AOK after several hundred University employees spend New Year's Eve posted at their terminals to prevent any binary bang.
Winter whiteout
Jan. 24-28: Snow and ice shut down the campus for most of the week and leave hundreds of University employees stranded at home. The last time classes were suspended because of snow was Jan. 15, 1957.
Tuition increases endorsed
Feb. 11: The UNC Board of Governors endorses tuition increases across the 16-member system, including tuition increases of $600 at Carolina and N.C. State to be phased in over two years. Meant to make faculty salaries more competitive, the increases are later approved by the legislature and go into effect in the fall. One third of revenue goes to financial aid.
Five million volumes
Feb. 11: Wilson Library celebrates the milestone of becoming the first university library in the Southeast to collect five million volumes. The goal was reached with a volume from the 1,200-piece collection of works by Irish poet William Butler Yeats.
Seeing is believing
March 17: Legislators visit campus and tour buildings such as Venable and Hill halls to get a lesson on the threats they pose because of their poor condition. "It's been an important day, and in many ways it's been an embarrassing day to see we have been no better stewards of our state's resources," said state Sen. Tony Rand at the tour's end.
The Final Four -- again
April 1: After a disappointing regular season and ACC Tournament, the men's basketball team makes it to the Final Four before losing to the University of Florida.
Moeser named chancellor
April 14: James Moeser, a celebrated organist who went on to become the chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, is named the ninth chancellor of Carolina by the UNC Board of Governors.
Bonds proposed
May 18: The N.C. General Assembly overwhelmingly approves a $3.1 billion
bond referendum for the state's higher education facilities needs to be placed
on the Nov. 7 ballot. The legislation is named after Michael Hooker, the late Carolina chancellor.
Opposites attract -- money
June 13: New York investment manager Julian H. Robertson Jr. and his wife Josie give $24 million to traditional athletic rivals Carolina and Duke University to create a pioneering collaborative program -- the Robertson Scholars -- that will recruit and support extraordinary undergraduate students who will study at both campuses beginning in Fall 2001.
Farewells
June 30: Bill Guthridge announces his resignation as coach of the men's basketball team. From 1967 to 1997, he served as Dean Smith's assistant. During his three seasons at the helm of the Tar Heel program, Guthridge's teams made two Final Four appearances, won 80 games and an ACC Tournament championship.
That same day, Richard "Dick" Richardson retires, ending his 30-year career at Carolina as a political science professor and provost. "We all know and love Dick Richardson and we all want to say, `Thank you,'" Interim Chancellor William O. McCoy said at a farewell reception. "If I'd known it was going to be so much fun I would have retired earlier," Richardson responded.
A front-row ticket home
July 11: Notre Dame basketball coach Matt Doherty, who played with Michael Jordan on Carolina's 1982 NCAA championship team, is named head men's basketball coach. "You dream about it. You fantasize about it. But you realize it may never happen. There haven't been a lot of coaches here."
First day on the job
Aug. 15: James Moeser starts his first day as chancellor with a handshake from outgoing Interim Chancellor William O. McCoy and a sip from the Old Well. "It tasted like ordinary water, but I decided it would be my good luck charm."
Plugged into school
Aug. 21: Some 3,400 freshmen begin classes and the start of their academic careers plugged into laptops as required by the Carolina Computing Initiative.
Building on the past
Oct. 12: James Moeser is officially installed as chancellor during University Day. "A university is a living organism that must be constantly recreated and regenerated," Moeser said. "We are not building from scratch -- as did Davie -- or steering through crisis -- as did Spencer and Graham. We are, rather, standing upon their shoulders as we enter a new century."
A new inner circle forms
Oct. 13: The UNC Board of Governors approves the appointments of two key University administrators: Robert Shelton as provost and executive vice chancellor, and Nancy Suttenfield as vice chancellor for finance and administration. Shelton comes from the University of California; Suttenfield from Case Western Reserve University.
A ringing endorsement from voters
Nov. 7: North Carolina voters pass the $3.1 billion bond referendum that will mean $499 million for construction projects at Carolina over the next five to seven years.
The end of the Torbush era
Nov. 20: Football coach Carl Torbush is fired after posting a 17-18 record in three years.
A dynasty continues
Dec. 3: The Tar Heel women's soccer team captures its 16th national championship in the last 19 years, beating UCLA.
A homecoming for Bunting
Dec. 11: John Bunting, a member of the 1971 Tar Heel team that won the ACC championship and who went on to play linebacker and coach the position in the National Football League, is hired as head football coach.
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