NEWS

CHAPEL HILL –Geneticist Dr. Francis Collins will speak on personal excellence March 26 for the centennial of the oldest and highest honorary society at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Order of the Golden Fleece will host four free events: the speech, plus a tapping of new members that re-enacts early tapping ceremonies, on March 26; and the first public presentation ever on the order’s history, followed by a panel discussion on the future of the university, on March 27.

The March 26 programs will be from 6-8 p.m. in Hill Hall Auditorium. March 27 programs will be from 9-9:45 a.m. and 10 a.m.-noon, respectively, in the George Watts Hill Alumni Center on Stadium Drive.

"We’re not telling all the secrets, but it will be the first time the public has had a chance to learn about contributions of the Order of the Golden Fleece," said UNC senior Leia Kelly of San Marino, Calif., order president – a post referred to as Jason. The order’s terms stem from the hero Jason of Greek mythology and his band of Argonauts, pursuing their quest for the Golden Fleece.

In spring 1904, 11 Carolina students who had distinguished themselves in various branches of campus life founded the Fleece as "a Senior Class society which would subordinate local interests to the welfare of the university and join together in closer harmony the different branches of (campus) life."

The order’s members, called Argonauts, are chosen for their character, leadership and excellence; they work mostly behind the scenes for the welfare of the university, said Dr. George Lensing, English professor and faculty sponsor of the order for 25 years.

"History of the Golden Fleece: 1903-1950," edited by Argonaut and 1948 alumnus William R. Coulter, says the order is the second such group ever established among colleges nationwide – the first being Skull and Bones at Yale. Argonaut Nick Herman of Chapel Hill, who is writing a new history of the order, said it is "the first university honor society of its kind in the nation."

A 1977 Carolina graduate and a law professor at N.C. Central University, Herman will present an overview of the order’s history, based on his two years of research, in the March 27 program.

Up to 250 order alumni are expected at the centennial. Since the order’s founding, almost 1,700 Argonauts have been tapped – most, while they were students. Faculty, staff and alumni sometimes are tapped as honorary members.

"We’re very excited that many Argonauts will be returning from all over the country to celebrate the contributions of the order to the university in the past, and to chart new directions for the future of the order," said Lensing.

Collins graduated from the UNC School of Medicine in 1977 and was commencement speaker and an honorary degree recipient at Carolina in 1994. He directs the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health, which led U.S. participation in a worldwide effort to map the human genome, the entire set of genetic instructions within a cell. The project announced its success last April, a discovery expected to speed research designed to improve human health and prevent and cure diseases.

"We wanted to choose a speaker whose work and vision projected into the future," Lensing said.

Coulter’s booklet, available in the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library, previews what will happen in Hill Hall after Collins’ speech. Coulter paraphrases one of the original Argonauts, William P. Jacocks, class of 1904, when he returned to UNC later to witness a tapping ceremony:

"The hooded, black-robed giants with the fleece across their shoulders literally yank the startled neophytes from their moorings today in the darkness of Memorial Hall, pierced only by the roving spotlights and the glowing fleece upon the stage."

No yanking is expected on March 26, but the giants – also characters from the Jason tale – will lightly tap each new member as a spotlight falls and his or her name is called. A citation about his or her good works will be read. Thirty new members will join the present campus roster of about a dozen.

Tapping was quieter in Jacocks’s day, with Argonauts taking a prospect aside to broach the subject of membership. If he reacted favorably, it was on to initiation – often, a late supper around a campfire in the woods. That is, behind South Building. Today, new members are announced in the public gathering spot known as the Pit.

The panel, "Excellence and Diversity in the 21^st Century: The Future of UNC-Chapel Hill," will explore topics including the future of student life, athletics, state support, recruiting new faculty members as many retire, awarding scholarships for merit and need, and issues of diversity in enrollment. Retired UNC Provost Dr. Richard Richardson will moderate the panel, composed of:

· Rebekah Burford, a UNC senior, Student Body Vice President.

· Julius Chambers, a 1962 graduate of the UNC School of Law and director of its Center for Civil Rights, a former chancellor of N.C. Central University.

· William C. Friday, president emeritus of the 16-campus UNC system, a 1948 Carolina law graduate.

· Dr. James H. Johnson Jr., director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at UNC and Kenan Distinguished Professor of management.

· Branson Page, a Carolina medical student and 2002-2003 president of UNC’s Graduate and Professional Student Federation.

· Dr. Holden Thorp, chemistry professor and director, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

· Judith Wegner, UNC law professor, former dean of the law school and chair of the faculty.

Herman lists Argonauts who have made significant contributions in many walks of life, including seven UNC presidents, nine chancellors of UNC campuses, six North Carolina governors, 20 members of the state legislature, seven justices of the N.C. Supreme Court – five of them chief justices -- and numerous other judges, Congressmen and state legislators. Leaders in medicine, business, philanthropy, the arts, music, athletics and other fields round out Herman’s extensive list of prominent Argonaut alumni.

"Over the past 100 years, the order has sought – behind the scenes – to provide quiet counsel to presidents, chancellors and other administrators of the university, and to work with and through different campus organizations to promote unity and harmony in the university community," Herman writes.

"At times, the order has acted publicly to help address issues or problems of a particular era … but the primary works of the order have been deliberately conducted in private ways. It has served primarily as a caucus to promote frank and free discussion among its members about ways to better the university community and to allow them to effect those betterments through quiet, individual endeavors…"

Being chosen for membership was no small matter, according to the recollections later of one early Argonaut quoted by Coulter: "I had the feeling of what I suspect would be that of a man suddenly invited to go to Heaven … now that so many years have come and gone, I still immensely treasure this corporate expression of confidence."

For more information on the centennial, visit http://alumni.unc.edu/reunions/goldenfleece/ or contact Kelly at goldenfleece@unc.edu.

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Contact: Dr. George Lensing, (919) 962-4053

News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589