Protecting free speech should not mean silencing certain students –

When a day symbolizes the start of a war, it’s natural for students to pick a side. In the current climate, deaths are politicized; This is an unfortunate truth. This argument is not intended to denounce the tragedy and unspeakable atrocities that occurred here Oct. 7or denying a student the right to grieve.

After the protests last month UNC has framed the actions of pro-Palestinian organizations as disruptive and significantly harmful. This is probably why security has been increased at the Israeli flag monument Polk Placebut as I walked through a fenced field full of officers, it felt more like a Panopticon-like statement than a call to acknowledge a loss. This level of preemptive police presence shows the level of distrust and fear UNC has toward the people it is supposed to serve. The handling of protests on campus is becoming worryingly biased.

Co-sponsored from Young America’s Foundationa group that prays Ben Shapiro and calls Black Lives Matter Marxist Indoctrinationit’s hard to say that the organization that put up the flags wasn’t making a political statement. The blatant extremism condemned on campus is no worse than the blatantly misogynistic, transphobic, and racist views associated with other popular views events – They are simply hidden behind a polished facade of traditional American decency.

The monument itself is not a problem. This is the way UNC is afraid of being remembered or drawing national media attention through loud, passionate protests. If students aren’t allowed to advocate, what’s the point of attending a school with reach and influence? Would we rather be remembered by incredibly relevant, if somewhat disruptive, protests or an era of silence?

You don’t need to protest so strongly if your side already has strong support from your government. It is UNC’s responsibility to ensure that students who want to have a platform do so. At a time when students fear police violence as an impact of protests, having hordes of officers guarding Polk Place is automatically intimidating and a barrier to protests. It is not a direct violation of the First Amendmentbut when students feel like they are being backed into a corner, it has the same effect as if they actually were.

There is a huge disparity between the number of students who support Palestinians and the visibility they have on campus. It is ironic that an issue involving cultural erasure is being erased. Is this simply protecting the campus, or is this evidence of the administration’s desire to eliminate any student dissent?

When supporters of Palestine are called disruptive and extremist at UNC and in the news, let’s not pretend that supporters of Israel aren’t either. It is simply presented in a more digestible form, sanctioned and fenced off by the administration. The government packages its violence into an easy pill to swallow, even though billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and bombs are still destructive and extremist. We choose which lives are more important to us based on a political agenda.

If the students wanted to show 42,000 Flags for dead Palestinians, or 11,000 It is no secret that the dead Palestinian children would not be so securely guarded. The point of college is not to live in a manicured bubble, but to hear the voices of as many students as possible.

Think carefully about why we attend a public institution before we have to resign ourselves to being firmly on the wrong side of history decades later. The actions we may or may not take now are shaping the American consciousness as we speak.