The University is subject to legislation governing the authority of State agencies and institutions to engage in business activities that are considered in competition with private enterprises.  This legislation is called the Umstead Act - (G.S. 66-58) "Sale of Merchandise or Services by Governmental Units".  In accordance with this statute, the University has the authority to engage in the following business activities:

1. Utilities and other services operated by it
2. Sale of articles produced incident to the operation of instructional departments
3. Sale of articles incident to educational research
4. Sale of articles of merchandise incident to classroom work, meals, books
5. Sale of articles of merchandise not exceeding twenty-five cents in value when sold to members of the educational staff or staff auxiliary to education or to duly enrolled students or occasionally to immediate members of the families of members of the educational staff or of duly enrolled students
6. Sale of meals or merchandise to persons attending meetings or conventions as invited guests
7. Operation by the University of North Carolina of an inn or hotel and dining and other facilities usually connected with a hotel or inn
8. Operation of the hospital and Medical School of the University of North Carolina,
9. Operation of the Coliseum of North Carolina State University at Raleigh, and the other schools and colleges for higher education maintained or supported by the State
10. Operation of the Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University at Raleigh, the Horace Williams Campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Millennial Campus of a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina
11. Operation of the comprehensive student health services or the comprehensive student infirmaries maintained by the constituent institutions of the University of North Carolina
12. Operation of gift shops, snack bars, and food service facilities physically connected to any of the University of North Carolina's public exhibition spaces, including the North Carolina Arboretum, provided that the resulting profits are used to support the operation of the public exhibition space
13. Sale of products of experiment stations or test farms
14. Sale of learned journals, works of art, books or publications of the Department of Cultural Resources or other agencies
15. Operation of endowment funds established for the purpose of producing income for educational purposes
16. Operation by educational institutions of campus stores, the profits from which are exclusively for awarding scholarships to defray the expenses of students attending the institution; provided, that the operation of the stores must be approved by the board of trustees of the institution, and the merchandise sold is limited to educational materials and supplies, gift items and miscellaneous personal-use articles.  Provided further that sales at campus stores are limited to employees of the institution and members of their immediate families, to duly enrolled students of the campus at which a campus store is located and their immediate families, to duly enrolled students of other campuses of the University of North Carolina other than the campus at which the campus store is located, to other campus stores and to other persons who are on campus other than for the purpose of purchasing merchandise from campus stores.