Student Protesters Allege UNC Lacked Due Diligence in Bringing Disciplinary Charges Against Them

View This Email In Your Browser

Early voting is underway, and you can find all of the INDY’s election coverage here. Our questionnaires for candidates running in local races in Wake, Orange, and Durham counties, and for state house and senate seats in Triangle districts, are live and will continue to be updated. We’ll be reporting up to Election Day on November 5 and after and plan to bring you coverage on state constitutional amendments, candidate visits, and more. Send us your election thoughts, questions, and concerns and we’ll try to get you answers promptly. 

Good morning, readers.

In May, UNC-Chapel Hill officials suspended 17 pro-Palestine student activists in connection to campus protests, according to Students for Justice in Palestine, or SJP. 

Most accepted settlement agreements with undisclosed conditions. But several asked for formal hearings. Today, we’re taking a close look at the months-long odyssey that followed for two of those students, both of whom allege that, in deciding their suspensions, the university placed undue weight on testimonies from a professor and a campus police officer.

To fight his suspension, Hashem Amireh—a Palestinian Jordanian doctoral student and president of UNC’s graduate student union—had to wait weeks for a FERPA disclosure to learn where the allegations came from. 

The disclosure, reviewed by the INDY, indicates that a professor in Amireh’s own department had pushed administrators to take disciplinary action, sending photos that purportedly showed Amireh engaging in violence and providing unauthorized building access. Even after Amireh was suspended and banned from campus, records show, the professor continued emailing administrators with new allegations.

At Amireh’s July hearing, Amireh says he was able to debunk the allegations, including using phone location data to prove he wasn’t on campus during some of the alleged incidents. His suspension was dismissed.

Kaleb, meanwhile, who requested the INDY use only his first name, remains suspended following an arrest at a May protest. An appeal of his suspension, which the INDY has reviewed, challenges the university’s use of pending criminal charges as grounds for upholding disciplinary charges and alleges misconduct by campus police—particularly the fact that a campus police captain served as both a witness to the protest and a voting member on his hearing panel.

Read the full story here. Have a good Wednesday.

—Lena

The Best of the Best Triangle Readers Poll is live. Winners from each county are going head to head for your vote. Support your favorites now through November 18. The champions of the Triangle will be announced on December 11th. Make sure to use this guide to shop locally throughout 2025, and pick up last-minute holiday gifts.

---

---

Durham

NC state senate candidate Sophia Chitlik is in a safe race but she’s campaigning for other Democrats up and down the ballot.

Wake

Poll volunteers accuse Rep. Erin Paré and her husband Wayne of intimidation at early voting sites. 

Vice president Kamala Harris will hold a campaign event in Raleigh today. Donald Trump will campaign in Rocky Mount.

Orange

NC gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein and Gov. Roy Cooper were on UNC’s campus this week to campaign for Democrats. 

North Carolina

Sarah Taber, the Democratic candidate for NC agricultural commissioner, is running an unconventional campaign.

---

If you’d like to advertise your business to the Daily’s 30,000-plus subscribers, please contact [email protected]

---