Good morning Chancellor Folt,
I am writing to express my concern over a trend I have noticed in your messages to the UNC campus community. I fully understand the challenging position you are in as the Chancellor of a diverse and public university campus; however, I have grown increasingly concerned that your emails are not sending a full-throated message of love and support for our students, faculty and staff who belong to a historically marginalized group. I am especially concerned about students of color and Jewish and Muslim students feeling unsafe and unsupported.
You sent out a condemnation of a flyer that was posted on campus. The first paragraph states: "We have become aware of a threatening flyer that has been posted around campus and disseminated through social media expressing acts of violence to supporters of President Trump. We take these matters very seriously. The flyer and its message are the antithesis of the values that are the foundation of our University. It is not designed to spark civil discourse or encourage thoughtful debate. Its intentions are to incite violence, and there is no place for that here or in our society."
This read to me as the strongest condemnation your office has issued over the past three and a half years. I had not seen the flyer on campus, but I Googled it expecting to be disturbed by its content. Honestly, I found it to be rather innocuous as far as radical political flyers go. My religious tradition teaches me to practice nonviolence even when attacked, and I do not support the violence suggested by the flyer. In context, however, I found the strength of your condemnation strange given the types of conciliatory messages we have received regarding violence against people from marginalized communities. Here is what I mean:
Back in October of 2015, your office published a message about an upcoming rally in support of the Confederate Monument on campus. After mentioning democratic exchange of ideas and the desire for public safety, it concluded with this statement: "Carolina has a long tradition of freedom of speech. We truly believe differing views can and should be shared in open debate and discourse and we hope all participants will honor this aspiration."
There is a fine line between free speech and violent hate speech, and those who draw on the symbolism and history of the Confederacy frequently cross it. Just four months prior to this, a white terrorist walked into Mother Emanuel Church and murdered nine Black parishioners after donning the Confederate flag on social media and expressing support for the same principles this pro-confederate group was rallying behind. I find it troubling that we did not include a condemnation of white supremacy and the types of violent speech backed up by a long history of physical brutality that often accompanies such pro-confederate rallies. Of course, as a University, we encourage free speech and the free exchange of ideas. But why stand strongly against the imaginary violence portrayed in the recent flyer, while not coming out strongly against the actual violence perpetrated against people of color by pro-confederacy groups?
In September of 2016, you sent out a message about the protests in Charlotte after the killing of Keith Scott. Your message said, "On behalf of the Carolina Community, I want to extend our deepest sympathies to those who have been affected and ask that peaceful and constructive dialogue replace the violence and unrest that has overtaken so much of our nation."
I interpreted this message as a condemnation of rioters expressing their anger and fear at a law enforcement system that frequently uses excessive force, harming and often killing people of color without cause or justification and usurping their constitutional right to a trial. Your message contained no condemnation of the systemic police violence that led to the riots, however. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said "it would be morally irresponsible (to condemn riots) ... without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society...that cause individuals to feel that they have no alternative but to engage in violent rebellions to get attention."
In your post-election message, you said: "In the past week, we have heard inspiring examples of faculty using the opportunity to have students of differing political beliefs share their views and engage in respectful dialogue on what it means to be a democracy. We also have heard a few troubling examples in which students felt uncomfortable expressing beliefs that differed from the instructor’s or fellow classmates. We take all these matters very seriously."
