It’s Monday, May 6.
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It’s final exam week and UNC’s campus has been relatively quiet since police broke up a pro-Palestininan encampment last Tuesday, arresting and detaining dozens. Later that afternoon, a confrontation between police, protesters, and counter-protesters became violent.
But in the aftermath of the confrontation, the university’s administration announced it was closing and then reopening the Campus Y, the on-campus hub for social activism that’s home to 22 student social justice committees.
The initial closure came for “safety reasons,” according to UNC Media Relations. On Friday, the university’s administration clarified that the Y would reopen today, albeit with restricted hours.
Students, faculty, and other pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been reflecting on last week’s confrontation during which, photos and videos show, police officers shoved and pushed protesters, pulled a woman’s hair, trapped a wheelchair user under a metal barricade, and used pepper spray at close range.
“What we’ve seen around the country is that this brutality is happening with impunity,” says Emily Rogers, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Duke who was arrested at UNC last Tuesday. “Our campuses have been turned into war zones.”
GoFundMes and other petitions have circulated since Tuesday, raising money in support of those arrested and voicing no confidence in Lee Roberts, the university’s interim vice chancellor who personally intervened during the police confrontation and assisted officers in reattaching an American flag in place of a Palestinian flag that protesters had raised at Polk Place, the campus quad.
By this morning, nearly 600 UNC faculty and staff members had signed a petition voicing concerns about the administration’s actions on April 30 and asserting students’ right to free speech and protest.
—Jane
Durham
The Wheels roller skating rink leads a list of upcoming public art initiatives coming to Durham in the coming months.
Wake
The Holly Springs post office needs an upgrade to serve the town’s booming population.
Orange
Chapel Hill’s town council is discussing a proposed $50 million affordable housing bond referendum to go before voters this fall.
North Carolina
A bill to increase state funding for private school vouchers in the budget is moving forward in the state senate.
A federal lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s voter ID law gets underway today.
Today’s weather
Cloudy with a high of 84 degrees and a chance of storms.
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