What Would Calvin Coolidge Think of UNC?

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | October 26, 2026 | Jonathan Lawler

[karpov]

Once upon a time, an American president declared, “It is perfectly apparent that the needs of education were never greater than they are at the present time.” But it was not President Trump. It was President Calvin Coolidge. Over one hundred years ago, Coolidge recognized the critical need for robust civic education to foster a healthy republic.

Coolidge’s words are truer today than when he spoke them as vice president in 1922. In September 2026, the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania published its Constitution Day Civics Survey. The results could hardly be more concerning.

The survey found that one-third of Americans cannot name all three branches of the federal government and only a small percentage of respondents can name First Amendment protections beyond freedom of speech. The Center’s director called such ignorance “costly.”

Yet, UNC’s School of Civic Life and Leadership (SCiLL) offers hope. The school seeks to educate “citizens and leaders for constitutional self-government” and equip students to “live with purpose in a pluralistic American democracy.” This mission perfectly aligns with Coolidge’s century-old emphasis on the need for a civically informed citizenry.

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TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: calvincoolidge; civics; unc; univofncarolina

[mozarky2]

There’s a story, perhaps apocryphal, that a woman once told Silent Cal, “My husband bet me I couldn’t get three words out of you.” Coolidge replied, “You lose.”

[Tell It Right]

Most of the times I hear about the Mad Max looking monstrosity known as the Obama presidential library, I think about the dishonor to our nation that Calvin Coolidge's presidential library is just a small room in a simple library building. But then, that's maybe what limited government Cal would want.

https://forbeslibrary.org/coolidge/

[hinckley buzzard]

Coolidge was one of our best presidents, totally underrated by the liberal history cabal. He would have had little interest in a self-aggrandizing “library.”