More than 760 UNC faculty sign petition for amnesty for students suspended after pro-Palestine demonstrations
More than 760 UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and staff are calling on Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts to provide amnesty to students suspended during pro-Palestinian protests that led to students, protesters and police clashing.
A letter penned by UNC Provost Chris Clemens and Graduate School Dean Beth Mayer-Davis said they are concerned about the possibility of instructors withholding grades as part of the protest.
The letter read:
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 is 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.
A separate letter from faculty said the university undermined the public trust after calling in police to remove an encampment on April 30. The instructors, who support the protesters, say they will withhold grades until the 15 suspended students are reinstated.
"The continued withholding of arrest records from public scrutiny have further undermined the public trust," the letter read in part.
On Monday afternoon, some faculty members and students marched to the entrance of the South Building, where the administrative offices are located. A large sheet being carried read "UNC FACULTY & STAFF FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE."
The faculty letter called the protesters peaceful, but UNC said the protesters damaged the quad.
"They're facing a lot of uncertainty and reprisal from the university," said student Kylie Broderick. "They are steadfast in the demand that they deserve amnesty for protesting for human rights against an amoral war. It is not the responsibility of the university to punish them for merely standing for justice."
Faculty and staff claimed 15 UNC students who were arrested at the encampment were suspended from the University. They say the suspensions are a violation of their freedom of speech. Some students were banned from campus.
"We hope that he understands that we will not stand for this horrific and brutal treatment of our students," said UNC Global Studies professor Michal Osterwil. "We will not stand for student free expression being shut down in this way."
UNC has not confirmed any students were suspended, claiming federal privacy laws prevent them from releasing that information. The university confirmed its commencement ceremony will go on as scheduled on May 11.
WRAL News has reached out to UNC for comment on receiving this petition but has not received a response.
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