William Friday: Power, Purpose, and American Higher Education

by William A. Link

Few North Carolinians were as well known or as widely respected as William Friday (1920-2012). Although he never ran for elected office, the former president of the University of North Carolina was prominent in public affairs for decades and ranked as one of the most important American university presidents of the post-World War II era. In this comprehensive biography, William Link traces Friday's long and remarkable career.Friday's thirty years as president of the university, from 1956 to 1986, spanned the greatest period of growth for higher education in American history, and he played a crucial role in shaping the sixteen-campus university during that time of tumultuous social change. In the 1960s and 1970s, he confronted a series of administrative challenges, including the expansion of the university system, the evolving role of the federal government in the affairs of a public university, an intercollegiate athletics scandal, the anticommunism crusade and the Speaker Ban, and racial integration.Link also explores Friday's influential work outside the university in American higher education, on the Carnegie Commission on the Future of American Education and the White House Task Force on Education, and in the development of the National Humanities Center and the growth of Research Triangle Park. After retiring from the university, Friday headed the William R. Kenan, Jr., Fund and the Kenan Charitable Trust. He died October 12, 2012.

Genres: Biography

512 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 20, 1995

About the author

William A. Link earned his B.A. in history from Davidson College in 1976 and his doctorate in history from the University of Virginia in 1981.
For twenty-three years, he was a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, teaching courses in North Carolina history, the history of the American South, and twentieth-century American history. In 2004, he became the Richard J. Milbauer chair in history at the University of Florida.

Reviews

[Javier Limon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shoutout to my classmate for reminding me to get back on my reading grind. Also forgot to log this one. 10/10 read for me given my experience in the UNC System and it really reminds me how much history repeats itself. Even though Friday reigned for what was often seen as a golden era of higher education, there were still no shortage of fires to put out. It could be pretty dense at times but definitely has fueled my interest in going into higher ed.