As Legal Insurrection reported at the time, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was the scene of two iconic moments at the height of the pro-Hamas campus protests and occupations.
The first one was interim Chancellor Lee Roberts personally walking to the campus flag pole and re-raising the American flag after the Palestinian one hoisted earlier by pro-Hamas agitators had been taken down by police:
Afterward, Roberts differentiated himself from other higher education administrators at woke schools like Columbia by giving a defining statement, declaring, “That flag will stay there as long as I am chancellor.”
The second iconic moment came courtesy of a group of guys from several of the UNC’s fraternities. In photos and videos that went viral, the frat dudes were seen holding up the American flag so it didn’t touch the ground after the campus demonstrators attempted to take it down:
In the aftermath, they were catapulted into the national spotlight, with some of the guys doing media interviews explaining their actions and being hailed as heroes.
For instance, here’s what political science student Dan Stompel told Fox News:
“I was like, ‘I’d die for this flag.’ And everybody was like, ‘Yeah.’ If they got any closer [than] that we’re going to start throwing hands. We’re not going anywhere, I don’t care. They’re going to have to tear me off this flag over my dead body,” Stompel said.[…]”Don’t bend the knee to these people. They want to take over. They want to just destroy what this country stands for, bring their own twisted ideology into every orifice of this country. And don’t let them do that,” Stompel told Fox News Digital.
In addition to that, a “Throw ’em a Rager” fundraiser was launched in response to their stand for the American flag, raising over $515,000 to help “throw these frats the party they deserve.” Flagstock 2024, as the invite-only event is called, will be held on Sept. 2nd (Labor Day) at UNC-CH and will reportedly include some big names like country star John Rich.
As it turns out, the frat guys’ flag-protecting bonafides won’t be the only thing to celebrate at Flagstock. Some of them will also be speaking at the Republican National Convention next week:
After receiving national attention for holding up an American flag during a campus protest, UNC-Chapel Hill fraternity brothers are now slated to speak at the Republican National Convention next week, according to an announcement from former President Donald Trump’s campaign.The group will be among two dozen individuals or groups described as “everyday Americans” to speak at the four-day event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Trump campaign described the speakers as people “who have faced immense hardship and are worse off under the Biden-Harris administration.”
Here’s the official announcement from the campaign:
“A group of students and fraternity brothers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill patriotically protected an American flag that had been disturbed by demonstrators during an anti-Israel protest on their campus. The students gained national attention as videos of the protest showed them standing strong to protect the American flag, even as protestors antagonized them.”
In response to the Trump campaign’s announcement, reporter Marc Caputo also noted that Trump had considered visiting the UNC-CH campus after hearing about what the frat guys had done, but it didn’t pan out:
I wouldn’t be shocked if he showed up at the event because that would so be up Trump’s alley.
In the meantime, hats off to the frat bros for the RNC speaking invite. I’m sure they’ll have some shall we say interesting stories to tell in the aftermath.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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