Anti-Israel protesters shown the door after attempt to disrupt UNC event
UNC SJP organized a "Walk Out" to disrupt the event
Anti-Israel protesters who attempted to disrupt a Jan. 22 Abbey Speaker Series event on the UNC Chapel Hill Campus were shown the door and told they were violating state law protecting speakers at events.
The Abbey event featured Frank Bruni and Bari Weiss and a discussion on “objectivity in journalism.”
Bruni is a journalism veteran with over three decades of experience who racked up over twenty-five years at The New York Times. Weiss is the founder and editor of The Free Press. She also hosts the podcast “Honestly.”
This event, held at the Frank Porter Graham Student Union, was co-sponsored by Carolina Alumni.
Not long into the program, anti-Israel protesters began screaming from the back of the auditorium, with some chanting "Free Free Palestine."
Video of disruption inside the event was posted to X by the account "Triggerx101."
A man at the podium, likely a moderator or administrator is captured in the video citing the Campus Free Speech Act passed by the legislature in 2017 which requires universities to protect the rights of speakers to be heard.
"You are not allowed to disrupt this event. You will need to leave. You will need to leave now,” the moderator told the protesters.
The individuals attempting to disrupt the event were possibly affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine at UNC (UNC SJP), which had been posting on social media platform X a call for followers to attend and disrupt the event with a staged "walk-out."
A UNC SJP post about protesting the event told followers to “show up and mask up."
The Bruni/Weiss event video has not yet been published on the Abbey Speaker Series YouTube page.
More To The Story
SFJP's tweet includes a link to a Linktree website that hosts more information about SFJP as well as the group's "open letter of demands" to UNC Chapel Hill's administration and chancellor.
The main theme of the demands is for UNC Chapel Hill to completely financially divest from "products supporting Israeli genocide, apartheid, and settler colonialism."
The letter lists certain companies by name such as Sabra Hummus, HP Technologies, and Caterpillar construction vehicles and/or construction contractors that use Caterpillar vehicles.
"This demand also includes divesting from UNC’s study abroad programs in Israel, as well as any other UNC-sponsored travel to Israel,” the SFJP document reads.
Additionally, the letter demands UNC set up a "commission" to decide how the school will "take immediate and long-term steps to divest from Israeli apartheid," along with a call for transparency of all activities undertaken by the UNC Investment Fund, LLC.