the Student Struggle Against the Re-Segregation of UNC Chapel Hill
The University + Community Response
Lee Roberts’ militarized authoritarian response to the encampments and flagpole won over the overwhelming support of right-wing conservatives in the North Carolina General Assembly. Both Tim Moore and Phil Berger commended Lee Roberts and voiced support for his tenure as permanent chancellor.1Avi Bajpai and Korie Dean, “Lee Roberts Should Be Made UNC Chancellor Permanently, GOP Legislative Leaders Say ,” The News & Observer , April 29, 2025, Lee Roberts should be made UNC chancellor permanently, GOP legislative leaders sayRead more at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article288208965.html#storylink=cpy.
“Lee Roberts marched down the quad. He made a show of it. It was not in any way humble or sincere. It was just a show of force, where he was flanked by cops. They used a barricade to push over a protester in a wheelchair. They really had no regard for anybody’s safety. He had, previously moments before, shaken hands with counter protesters holding an Israeli flag. He was making more than anything. Lee Roberts was making a statement at this point. And so they marched, quickly, down the quad, and they brutalized many, many student protesters with pepper spray, with their hands. It was disgusting. I think for a lot of UNC students, it was traumatizing. It was really such an awful way to treat your students, and something that people never forgive Lee Roberts for. I think they’re leading up to that moment. There are reports that Lee Roberts, or somebody in UNC administration got a call from legislators in the North Carolina State Assembly, the General Assembly. There are text records between the chancellor, his staff, and the provost, and a lot of things happened that day that are very clear. They said explicitly they’re trying to make a show, make a point. There are some really heinous texts also in the Board of Trustees Group Chat, where they joke about meeting making bets, over-under bets on the timing with which Lee Roberts would brutalize students or the police would brutalize students. So, really just a disgusting thing that they did for show. And so at the very end, I think, when the police had regained control of the flagpole, Lee Roberts himself hoisted the American flag as whatever, as the perfect photo op for himself. And I think he knew in that moment that he had kind of solidified himself as no longer the Interim Chancellor, but the chancellor. I also think that was the day if students didn’t already know how awful he was, that was the day that they learned.” — Julian
The support from Raleigh was exchanged for the loss of trust and support of the people of the University. In the immediate aftermath, a petition for A Vote of No Confidence circulated, garnering over 5,000 signatures.2TransparUNCy, “Sign the Petition,” Change.org, May 16, 2024, https://www.change.org/p/vote-of-no-confidence-in-lee-roberts.
In this petition, University community member filled the comments with their discontent.
While political leaders in Raleigh applauded Roberts’ response, the overwhelming response from students, faculty, and staff revealed a stark divide between those who govern the university and those who live and work within it. The violent, unapologetic response on April 30th solidified that the highest ranking administrator at the University, the chancellor, had allegiance with the political conservative elites in Raleigh.
As a member of UNC SJP, Florence Park expressed this sentiment in an opinion piece:
“This university belongs to the students of North Carolina. Administrators’ commitment is supposed to be to those students. Instead, they put up barricades and sicced the police on peaceful student protestors, creating an environment of hostility and militarization.
It is our duty as a campus community to resist the repression of student activists by autocratic administrators who are beholden not to students or the people of North Carolina, but to their wealthy mega-donors. This is our university. This is your university. It is not theirs.”3 Florance Park, “Viewpoints: There Are No Universities Left in Gaza,”
In addition, at the official 2024 University graduation ceremony, this tension and widespread discontent with University leadership were publicly vocalized when attendees booed Lee Roberts.
Students and community members who felt unsupported and vilified by their University turned inwards.
They engaged in the practice of making the University theirs by hosting their own ceremony. The “People’s Graduation” earlier that morning paid homage to students who were banned on campus and had their diplomas withheld without due process. Graduating seniors and graduate workers in their gowns and keffiyehs walked across and received their diplomas, receiving degrees in valuable skill sets such as “Bachelors of Sciences in Dealing with Administration” and “Bachelors of Arts and Sciences in Marshaling.”
UNC graduation regalia covered in red paint is placed on the seal on Saturday, May 11, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Heather Diehl) A graduate holds their cap and diploma from “The People’s Graduation” which took place at the Peace and Justice Plaza on Saturday, May 11, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Heather Diehl)
At the Peace and Justice Plaza, the people once again convened to collectively reinforce values about who should be celebrated and which educational skills should be commemorated on their diplomas. Through this celebratory graduation performance untethered from the University, students supported one another and remade the University their own.
