Not again.
No windows were broken this time but six people being arrested for disorderly conduct at a protest of a former U.S. congressman's speech is again embarrassing for our academic institution.
Not because protest isn't the birthright of all Americans (and noncitizens who reside here) because it absolutely is.
Not because protesters don't have the same right to free speech that Virgil Goode has because they absolutely do.
But because we once again leveled the integrity of debate on our prestigious campus to the lowest common denominator.
Buzzwords slogans chanting dancing around in leotards and screaming your fool head off are tactics that are mutually exclusive to formulating and articulating a cohesive argument.
Boiling everything down to racist versus the righteous denies the complexity of the issues our state and nation face in formulating policies that treat illegal immigrants in a fair safe and humane manner.
UNC students canceled a previously planned trip to Raleigh on Wednesday to lobby for college access for illegal immigrants out of concern that legislators would lump them in with out-of-control protests they had nothing to do with.
What a shame.
Substantive discussion of real issues with the people who have the power to effect change was moved to the back burner because of silly antics of a few.
Who's chanting about that?
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
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