Faculty members at UNC Chapel Hill are demanding that students who have been suspended for participating in antisemitic protests be reinstated and are even threatening to withhold grades until it happens.
These people should be fired.
The News and Observer reported:
UNC faculty criticize discipline for demonstrators. Will they withhold grades in protest?A group that organized pro-Palestinian protests on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus last week is calling on faculty and teaching assistants to withhold grades to “demand amnesty” for students facing disciplinary actions.It was unclear Monday morning how many instructors are joining the call to withhold grades, though university leaders told deans and department chairs that they had received “concerns from students whose instructors have informed them they will withhold grades as part of a protest.”But in another effort to have proceedings dismissed against students, hundreds of faculty are now speaking out against university administrators’ actions.Three dozen protesters were either detained or arrested at a “Gaza solidarity encampment” April 30 and charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor. The 30 demonstrators who were detained — 10 of which were UNC students — were given citations and released on campus. The six demonstrators who were arrested — three of whom were UNC students — face additional misdemeanor charges, including resisting, delaying or obstructing an officer.
More from the Carolina Journal:
UNC faculty to withhold final grades for all until suspended protesters are re-instatedSome UNC students got a message Monday that after a semester of work and a week to go before graduation, they will not be getting some final grades.A group of faculty members say they will withhold their scores until the university re-instates fifteen suspended students who were arrested along with 36 other non-students during last week’s campus demonstration. While the number and names of faculty committed to withholding grades is unclear at this time, the message went out to a group of students Monday. The anti-Israel, pro-Palestine, four-day encampment was organized by the UNC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and drew hundreds of protesters, counter-protesters, and national media.In a press conference on campus Tuesday afternoon a group of faculty said that they want to “correct the record” on what happened on campus during the “Gaza-solidarity encampment” saying it was a “peaceful and inclusive” space for learning and discussion.However, according to UNC administration, some protesters in the encampment in Polk Place on campus saw participants breaking into academic buildings after hours, propping doors open to locked buildings, tearing down barricades, pushing through officers to forcibly enter campus buildings, hitting police and other vehicles, throwing furniture in front of police vehicles injuring officers, entering classrooms during finals to cause disruptions, and throwing water bottles and fluids at University workers, police and administrators.
Provost Chris Clemens and Graduate School Dean Beth Mayer-Davis reminded instructors that students depend on those grades and support sanctions if any improperly withhold them:
Dear Deans and Department Chairs,We are hearing concerns from students whose instructors have informed them they will withhold grades as part of a protest. These students depend on the timely submission of their grades for graduation, jobs, and athletic eligibility, and it is part of the required duties of all faculty and graduate TAs to submit grades by the registrar deadlines.We are asking you to please work with your faculty and graduate students to ensure that we follow exemplary practice in our work as educators. We strongly support the right of faculty and graduate students to express their opinions freely but there are better ways to do this than hurting our students and abrogating our contract with the people of North Carolina who support our university. We are counting on your leadership in this matter.The provost’s office will support sanctions for any instructor who is found to have improperly withheld grades, but is our hope we can resolve this matter amicably and without harm to students.Excellence in the classroom and in research are a credit to the institution and a vital service to the students and people of North Carolina. It would be a disservice to all of you and to the institution if a minority of instructors were to damage the trust we hold with our students by withholding grades. Thank you for your support.
Here’s a local video report:
This appears to be driven by Students for Justice in Palestine and their faculty supporters.
It’s time to start firing and expelling people.
Featured image via YouTube.
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