Enough target practice: Koch is being unfairly singled out due to scholarship

So Haley Koch held a banner at the Tancredo protests in April.

So she held a 12-foot banner that read"" ""No Dialogue with Hate.""

So she held a 12-foot banner in front of a speaker who had been invited by a student organization to voice his opinion on immigration at the University.

But just holding a banner doesn't seem like it warrants being at the center of such a heated controversy.

Perhaps her actions were inappropriate. The protest escalated into a panic scenario with glass breaking and police using pepper spray.

Both sides are outraged and citing their right to free speech.

And Koch is now the face of the protest controversy.

Not only was she the only student arrested" but Koch is also set apart by her prestigious Morehead-Cain Scholarship.

The Morehead-Cain Scholarship symbolizes UNC academic excellence. Koch will be able to keep her scholarship after she met with Morehead-Cain Foundation Director Chuck Lovelace. But Koch's scholarship seems to be making her into an easy scapegoat.

When a student involved in a controversy is a Morehead-Cain Scholar it certainly makes for a more sensational story. Having a scholarship means having more to lose.

But we need to hold everyone to the same standards.

The video of the protest that implicates Koch as guilty shows her holding a banner while the ruckus begins to spiral out of control. 

Charges could still be brought against some of the more than 100 protestors involved. But so far none of them have been arrested outside of a classroom.

The fact that the University takes pride in its Morehead-Cain Scholars does not mean they should be held more accountable for their behavior.

If those upset by this controversy think that the protesting students should face consequences then they should be impartial in their calls for punishment.

There is no need to point fingers at Koch simply because of her scholarship.