University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Institute of Government

The Institute of Government was established in 1932 to provide training, consulting, and research services for state and local governments in North Carolina. It is one of the oldest university-based organizations of this sort in the U.S. and has gained distinction for the comprehensiveness of its programs. Although Albert Coates, who directed the Institute from 1932 to 1962, was on the faculty of the university's School of Law, the Institute was independent of the university until 1942, when it officially became an administrative unit. Currently the Director of the Institute reports to the Provost of the university.

The Institute of Government was first conceived in the mind of its founder, Albert Coates, in the late 1920s. Coates, a professor since 1923 in the University of North Carolina School of Law, realized that the criminal law he taught was based solely on a few Supreme Court decisions and that he was, therefore, unable to prepare his students for the daily ins and outs of courtroom and criminal procedure. To learn the ins and outs himself, he began working with local law enforcement officials, only to find that they knew as little about textbook law and Supreme Court decisions as he did about apprehending felons and running prisons. Coates then saw that these officials desperately needed some instruction on how better to perform their duties--and decided that he was the man to provide it.

In December 1931, Coates organized a steering committee of prominent North Carolinians, who formally approved his plan for a series of training courses for law enforcement officials. He wanted, he said, to create an Institute of Government, which he described as a voluntary organization of public officials and private citizens coming together for the continuous study of the structure and workings of government, in books and in action, in the cities, the counties, and the state of North Carolina. The following May a group of two hundred state and local officials approved the plan. The Institute of Government had its official beginning in September 1932, when Coates held the first Statewide School of Governmental Officers for the Study of Governmental Institutions in the Cities, Counties, and State of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Three hundred officials from around the state attended.

The 6 July 1932, edition of the UNC Newsletter bore Albert Coates' byline, and set out for the citizens of the state his goals for the Institute. In particular, he outlined six categories of work which, to this day, constitute the bulk of the Institute's activities:

1. The preparation of governmental guidebooks which will bring to every government official a clear statement of the powers attendant to his job and the methods available to implement those powers.

2. The operation of county, district and state-wide schools for the government officers which will train and teach the officers in their responsibilities.

3. The publication of a governmental journal, Popular Government, which reports the results of government studies, updates the government guidebooks, documents the changes in government made by the legislature and keeps people continuously in touch with their government.

4. The promotion of government-related education in the high schools and universities of North Carolina.

5. The training of men with experience in North Carolina Government to constitute a staff responsive to the inquiries of North Carolina government officials.

6. The building of governmental laboratory offices which demonstrate the different methods and practices in use in similar offices around the state.

From its founding until 1942, the Institute was a private entity and, as such, received no state funding. Donations from Greensboro businessmen Ben and Caesar Cone got the Institute started and enabled Coates, in 1933, to hire his first staff member--one of his former students, Henry Brandis. Further private donations allowed the creation of a larger staff and an expansion of the Institute's services, but funding remained a problem throughout the Depression. Subscriptions to Popular Government covered only the cost of the magazine itself. The School of Law wanted nothing to do with the Institute and nearly forced Coates off the faculty for spending too much time on Institute activities. Coates finally agreed to a half-time leave at his own expense, while continuing to pay many of the Institute's expenses out of his own pocket.

In the mid-1930s, at the request of mayors and county commissioners, he set a flat rate of one half-cent per capita at which cities and counties could obtain the Institute's services. He then sent staff member Dillard Gardner on a statewide campaign for memberships. Coates was able to obtain a Public Works Administration grant to erect a building for the Institute, but it lapsed before he could obtain matching funds. By the end of the 1930s, he could not afford to pay his staff and helped them find more secure jobs elsewhere.

But Coates did not give up. Through a combination of private donations and loans in his own name, he finally secured the funding for the Institute's first building, which was completed in 1939 in Chapel Hill. The presence of the building, as he had hoped, convinced people that the Institute was still alive. In 1942, largely through the interest and support of President Graham and Controller Carmichael, the University of North Carolina agreed to take the Institute in its folds, placing it for the first time on a secure financial footing. After World War II, Coates was able to recruit a new, larger staff, and to expand dramatically the services of the Institute. In 1956, the Institute moved into the new million-dollar Joseph Palmer Knapp building, which remains its home today.

Directors of the Institute of Government and their tenures are as follows:

In 2001, the Institute of Government's mission and programs became the core of the new School of Government. The School continued to provide training and other services to state and local government officials; and it continued to administer the Master of Public Administration Program, which had been part of the Institute since 1997. In addition, the School became involved in research and other activities aimed at specific audiences and purposes.