(WGHP) — The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill likes to think of itself as a groundbreaker.
They have a case to make. They are one of three to claim the title of first public university in the United States (along with the University of Georgia and the College of William & Mary), but UNC is the only public university to graduate students and confer degrees in the 18th century.
Although it was founded in 1785, four years before UNC, Georgia didn’t admit students until 1801 and didn’t have its first convocation until 1805. William & Mary, though chartered in 1693, was a private school until 1906…