As we've documented before, North Carolina universities are taking far different approaches to handling the pro-Hamas campus mobs than administrators at places like Columbia University and Northwestern have.
For instance, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC), an encampment put up by agitators was taken down just a few days later by campus police with the full backing of administrators, who unapologetically explained in the aftermath exactly why they did it and how they would proceed going forward with any further attempts to establish another encampment.
UNC-Chapel Hill administrators have also not played games, with their encampment also facing a similar fate and interim Chancellor Lee Roberts personally walking to the campus flag pole to replace the Palestinian flag with the American flag, and later declaring that the flag would remain flying under his watch.
In a nutshell, the reason both encampments were cleared is because the "peaceful protesters" were not, in fact, being "peaceful" - not in their actions, nor with their words, and both schools acted to ensure the safety and security of all students.
It is with that in mind that we turn to the UNC-CH's board of trustees, which voted Monday to effectively scrap the school's DEI program and move over $2 million to public safety. Who can DEI proponents thank in part for this? The pro-Hamas protesters themselves:
Marty Kotis is vice chair of the board’s budget and finance committee, which initially introduced and passed the “flex cut amendment.” Without citing specific examples, he called DEI programs “discriminatory and divisive.”
“I think that DEI in a lot of people’s minds is divisiveness, exclusion and indoctrination,” Kotis said. “We need more unity and togetherness, more dialogue, more diversity of thought.”
[...]
Kotis and other board members said it was important to have additional funding for public safety to protect the campus from groups that “disrupt the university’s operations.”
Many members specifically mentioned recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus. Last month, police detained more than 30 people at an encampment where protesters removed the U.S. flag and replaced it with a Palestinian one.
“When you destroy property or you take down the U.S flag and you have to put up gates around it — that costs money,” Kotis said. “It’s imperative that we have the proper resources for law enforcement to protect the campus.”
While the school's DEI program was already on life support thanks in part to the Supreme Court ruling in the Harvard/UNC-CH affirmative action cases in June 2023, this essentially nukes it.
Worse yet for defenders of DEI in North Carolina, more bad news is likely coming:
The move comes as the UNC Board of Governors, which governs all public universities in the state, is expected to vote on restricting DEI programs statewide next week. The board’s governance committee already passed the policy last month, but it must be approved by the full board before taking effect.
You love to see it. You truly do.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member