Members of UNC's Black Community Demand That the University Ensures Their Safety

Black UNC students, staff, and faculty are demanding more from their institution of higher learning. In a Wednesday press conference at the Sonja Haynes Stone Center, a coalition of the Black Student Movement, the Carolina Black Caucus, and the UNC Black Graduate and Professional Student Association outlined the eight priorities members say the university could accomplish within the fall 2021 semester.

“Life is about relationships, and right now, the relationship between the University of North Carolina and its Black students, faculty, and staff is broken,” said Jaci Field, a UNC Athletics staff member and the advocacy co-chair for the Carolina Black Caucus, at the start of the meeting.

The press conference follows Nikole Hannah-Jones's announcement that she will not be coming to UNC-Chapel Hill, and will instead take her talents and expertise to create Howard University's Center for Democracy and Journalism alongside writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.

The group is demanding the termination of Interim Police Chief Rasheem Holland, who has been acting as chief since mid-May and was shown in footage of the June 30 protest at the UNC Board of Trustees meeting. In these videos on social media, campus police shove protesters out of the board's conference room and into the adjoining hallway. The confrontation included a moment when an officer struck a student with his cell phone, knocking off her face mask in the process. The student, BSM Vice President Julia Clark, later tweeted an image of the bruise on her cheek, which she says was left by Holland.

Read more: https://indyweek.com/news/orange/unc-black-student-movement-demands-safety-equity/