Old North News

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill has not punished students who staged an October pro-HAMAS rally at the school, advocating for the elimination of Israel.

School officials confirmed to Old North News that they have made no public statements about “Day of Resistance Rally for Palestine,” and that there are no “records, communications, or documents related to disciplinary actions” taken by the school.

The rally was Oct. 12, organized by the UNC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. 

UNC’s “Policy on Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment, and Related Misconduct” defines harassment as “"unwelcome verbal, physical, electronic, or other conduct based on an individual’s Protected Status” that is “severe, persistent, or pervasive enough” to interfere with a student’s educational environment.

UNC reports that the student policy applies to conduct that occurs on and off campus, including actions taken online.

UNC has publicly announced student conduct violations in the past.

In Feb. 1988, the UNC Board of Trustees said the university “will conduct a full investigation and institute disciplinary action in accordance with the code of student conduct against any students involved” in disrupting CIA recruiter interviews on the campus,” according to a report in the News and Record.

“Certain students of the University of North Carolina identifying themselves as the ‘CIA Action Committee’ have taken responsibility for harassing, disrupting and preventing the interviews between the Central Intelligence Agency and other students of the university,” the newspaper reported. 

Board member John R. Pope of Raleigh called for the protesting students to be “expelled from the university.”

In Dec. 2008, an N.C. State student who, in the school’s “Free Expression Tunnel” spray painted that recently-elected U.S. President Barack Obama should be shot in the head,” was forced to participate in diversity training and community service, but not expelled.

Last week, the pro-free speech group Speech First filed a formal complaint with UNC, claiming Students for Justice in Palestine “shouted down journalist Bari Weiss” on the campus. They said the act violated UNC’s Campus Free Speech Act and its policy on Free Speech and Expression which provide for “disciplinary sanctions for anyone who disrupts a formal speaker event.”

In December, U.S. House Education Committee Chairman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) announced a formal investigation into Harvard, UPenn and MIT, where there were similar protests.

“Committee members have deep concerns with their leadership and their failure to take steps to provide Jewish students the safe learning environment they are due under law,” Foxx said. “The disgusting targeting and harassment of Jewish students is not limited to these institutions, and other universities should expect investigations as well, as their litany of similar failures has not gone unnoticed.”