Members of the UNC administration shared a letter with students and the campus community Friday evening detailing the university’s response to pro-Palestine demonstrations on campus earlier in the week.
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Amy Johnson, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nate Knuffman, and Vice Chancellor for Institutional Integrity and Risk Management George Battle issued a safety update detailing some of UNC’s actions leading up to Tuesday’s climactic student arrests and clashes between police and protesters — as well as the school’s ongoing response. The trio portended that while the demonstration began as compliant with UNC policy, the organizers — UNC Students for Justice in Palestine — later intentionally violated school and state policies by setting up tents and accessing academic buildings after hours.
“We must support the safety and security of our entire campus and surrounding community,” said the administrators’ letter. “The recent protesters on our campus, many of whom are not students, have continually and aggressively overstepped boundaries and shown that they are not interested in a peaceful demonstration. Their actions and rhetoric prove they are willing to escalate their tactics to the point of putting everyone in danger.”
UNC Students for Justice in Palestine began the encampment on Friday, April 26 as the latest step to advocate for UNC to divest from any financial ties with Israel, who is continuing its war in Gaza against Hamas. The group’s actions were peaceful — but UNC said demonstrators “materially disrupted” campus operations. In addition to violating university policies, the trio of administrators wrote Friday the demonstrators caused damage to Polk Place’s green, entered classrooms during testing periods, propped doors open to locked buildings, and took several steps to obstruct or injure police officers during Tuesday’s arrests and clash at the flagpole when protesters twice took down the United States flag.
“Most troubling,” Friday’s message added, “we have learned of an arson threat against a Jewish fraternity building and seen multiple instances of clearly antisemitic messages and threats in buildings. Such activities cannot be tolerated, as they interfere with student learning, safety and well-being, as well as University operations. These activities are particularly disruptive at the end of the academic year, when students are taking final exams and we are preparing for our Commencement celebrations.
“We have been closely watching the events happening at other universities around the country,” the trio of administrators wrote, “and we have seen how demonstrations by similar groups have turned into significant disruptions to the entire community and threatened the safety of everyone involved. We will continue to make decisions that we think best protect our community, and we are following our established procedures to assess disciplinary consequences.”
The letter did not specify when the threat against a fraternity took place nor if there was any direct connection to Tuesday’s pro-Palestinian demonstration.
In the updates on Friday, Knuffman, Johnson and Battle shared that the Campus Y building will reopen on Monday, May 6 after being closed indefinitely during the police response and subsequent days for “safety reasons.” The building will operate under revised hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Earlier in the week, the Campus Y executive board and committee leaders shared a statement saying they believe the closure of the Campus Y was “a means of intimidation and collective punishment” for the student activist community.
Additionally, the university launched a web page with frequently asked questions around how and why UNC approached Tuesday’s demonstrations as it did. On the page, UNC said it would be suspending the UNC Students for Justice in Palestine’s status as a university organization as it is investigated for violating university policies. It also clarified that personal items swept by UNC Police officers on Tuesday morning were made available for encampment participants to claim on Friday morning.
A total of 36 people were detained by UNC Police and UNC System law enforcement Tuesday morning following the encampment protest. The university clarified that 30 of those people — ten of whom are students with the university — were cited with trespassing and released on site, while six others were arrested and charged with trespassing before being released on a written promise to appear in court. Three of those arrested protesters are UNC students, while the other three are not affiliated with the Chapel Hill campus.
Friday’s message also came after Johnson sent the student body a message on Wednesday with resources to access if campus community members are feeling unsafe. She said in especially in the wake of Tuesday’s events on campus, university leaders are aware how violence against Israelis and Palestinians create fear and stress.
“Please know that we will not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia, or any form of hatred on our campus,” the student affairs vice chancellor wrote. “Anyone who feels they have experienced conduct that goes beyond free speech and constitutes discrimination or harassment based on protected status should contact the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office.”
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