Press Releases

STUDENTS CONDEMN POLICE HARASSMENT AND ARREST OF UNC STUDENT PROTESTER
HALEY KOCH; DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE INVESTIGATION

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
Thursday, April 23, 2009

UNC PROTESTERS DEFENSE COMMITTEE DENOUNCE POLICE INTIMIDATION, ARREST
OF STUDENT ACTIVIST

Students to hold a press conference condemning Chapel Hill and UNC
police harassment and targeting of activist at South Building tomorrow
at 12pm.

Chapel Hill, NC - Student organizers involved in the protests of
speeches hosted by Youth for Western Civilization featuring Tom
Tancredo and Virgil Goode denounce attempts by UNC and Chapel Hill
police to intimidate and harass activists. The students will hold a
press conference tomorrow at noon to demand that the UNC
administration cease their harassment and conduct an immediate
independent investigation into police activities.
At 10:30 this morning, UNC Morehead Scholar and honors student Haley
Koch found police officers waiting for her outside her class. She was
questioned at the UNC police station, and released on a $1,000 bond.

“Another student and I were having a conversation after class with

Former congressman Tom Tancredo was invited to speak at UNC on April 14 by Youth for Western Civilization, a newly-formed white supremacist organization on campus. Many student organizations, including Students for a Democratic Society, organized protests and alternative responses to the event. The violence and extreme force used by the campus police against the demonstrators caused an escalation that led to the event being shut down.

Over 200 people, including multiple student and community organizations, used a diversity of tactics to protest Tancredo, who is a symbol of hate, racism, and the scapegoating of immigrants. Some organizations wanted to challenge Tancredo through debate at the event; others, including SDS, marched from the Pit to Bingham Hall to protest outside the event; still others wanted to shut down the event entirely. It is extremely unfortunate that a lack of coordination between the different tactics employed led to the Carolina Hispanic Association and others’ dissent being silenced.

SDS was part of the march to Bingham Hall. Some members also sat quietly in the audience to challenge Tancredo with questions at the end of the event. We are proud to see that so many people came out to participate in the demonstrations. At the same time, it is regrettable that police violence led to an escalation which prevented many individuals and organizations from expressing their dissent towards Tancredo through speaking at the event.

There have been many accounts of what happened outside; some are based in fact while others are wildly speculative and untrue.

As participants of the outside protest, these are our accounts of what happened:

WHEN: Thursday March 26, at 11:45am
WHERE: The Pit (Rain Location, Carolina Union)
RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=75729300239&ref=ts

Demanding transparency and accountability, UNC community to protest education cuts and layoffs
Students, faculty, and workers to demonstrate at Board of Trustees meeting Thursday

Chapel Hill, NC - A broad coalition of students, faculty, and university workers will protest the Board of Trustees meeting Thursday, March 26, in opposition to planned layoffs, cuts to programs and services, and increases in tuition. On March 19, Chancellor Thorp instructed all campus departments to make permanent budget cuts of at least 5%, which will have deep impacts on student services across campus, class sizes and availability, and will result in dozens of workers losing their jobs and hundreds more positions being left unfilled, which will put a huge strain on already overworked employees of the university. The protest will demand transparency and community involvement in decisions relating to the budget crisis, and that the University uphold its standards as a public institution by serving all members of our community - not corporate entities. The protesters will convene in the Pit at 11:45am (Rain location in lobby of the Carolina Union), then march to the Board of Trustees meeting at the Carolina Inn.

Members of UNC-Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) will mark the 6th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq with a display on Polk Place about the skyrocketing costs of the war Thursday.

The display will be comprised of 2,000 flags, each representing 20 million dollars of taxpayer money.

These flags will be used to highlight the disparity between the $36.7 billion that North Carolina taxpayers have spent on the War in Iraq and the November 2008 corporate bailout on the one hand and the $3 billion they have spent on college scholarships since March 2003 on the other. 

Of the 2,000 flags, 1,847 will be needed to represent the 36.7 billion spent on the War and the corporate bailout, compared to only 153 flags for the money spent on college scholarships over the past six years.

That's a disparity of more than $12 spent on war and corporate greed for every one dollar spent on making college educations available for all North Carolinians.

SDS plans to have the display ready by 8 a.m. on Thursday. Members of the group will be on hand throughout the day to talk about the costs of the war with students and other community members passing through Polk Place.

For more information about UNC SDS, visit http://chapelhillsds.org/node/12.

Students for a Democratic Society member Tamara Tal and her attorney Al McSurely are declaring victory in a court battle for first amendment rights. On April 30, Jeffrey Nieman, the Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey L. Nieman sent a letter to McSurely stating that he had filed a voluntary dismissal in the case of State v. Tamara Tal. Nieman wrote in his letter that "the facts [are] insufficient for conviction beyond a reasonable doubt." Ms. Tal had been charged with "failure to disperse" (blocking free passage of a walkway-- C.H. town ordinance 11-6).