Resolution on Recent Acts of Racial Intimidation at UNC-Chapel Hill

Damon Seils at Board of AldermnThe month of March brought new concerns about the safety of students, employees, and visitors on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. Vandals desecrated the Unsung Founders Memorial, and a group of white supremacists brought weapons, including firearms, onto the campus in violation of state law. On Tuesday, April 9, I introduced a resolution to the Board of Aldermen urging the university to take bolder action in responding to and preventing these kinds of incidents. I’m proud that my colleagues on the board unanimously passed this resolution.

Alderman Damon Seils made a motion, seconded by Alderman Jacquelyn Gist, that the following resolution be approved. The motion passed unanimously.

A RESOLUTION IN RESPONSE TO RECENT ACTS OF RACIAL INTIMIDATION ON THE CAMPUS OF UNC-CHAPEL HILL

WHEREAS, Carrboro is home to many students, employees, and alumnae/-i of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, including an estimated 3500 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, or approximately 1 in 6 town residents, and the life of our community is intertwined with the life of the University; and

WHEREAS, on March 31, 2019, two persons desecrated the Unsung Founders Memorial in McCorkle Place on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus by defacing it with racist graffiti and with urine; and someone vandalized an installation outside Hanes Art Center with racist language; and

WHEREAS, on March 16, 2019, persons associated with a white supremacist group carried firearms and other weapons onto the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in violation of the North Carolina General Statutes and campus policy; and an Alert Carolina emergency notification was not issued; and no arrests were made and no citations or trespass notices were issued; and

WHEREAS, student antiracist activists have been prohibited indefinitely from entering certain areas of the campus, including McCorkle Place, despite having been found not guilty of the criminal charges related to their trespass notices or having had those charges dismissed; and

WHEREAS, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro branch of the NAACP, the Carolina Black Caucus, and others have called on UNC-Chapel Hill to take bolder action in response to acts of racial intimidation and threats by white supremacists to the safety of the community; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Aldermen appreciates Interim Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz’s statement that “we must nurture an environment where all people in our community can live, learn and work without fear”; and the Board is encouraged by the arrests on April 8 of the persons believed to have desecrated the Unsung Founders Memorial;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Aldermen that the Town of Carrboro, NC, urges its neighbor and partner UNC-Chapel Hill to rescind trespass warnings against student antiracist activists; to press charges and issue trespass warnings against persons who on March 16 carried firearms onto the campus; to clarify when the community may expect the presence of an armed person on or near the campus to trigger an Alert Carolina emergency notification; and to invite community members not necessarily affiliated with the University to participate in the campus safety commission being convened by the interim chancellor.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Town wishes to partner with UNC-Chapel Hill in a shared commitment to helping students feel safe in Carrboro through better communications, education about the Carrboro Police Department, opportunities to participate in Town programming and advisory committees, continued participation in the Good Neighbor Initiative, and other efforts.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board asks the clerk to share this resolution with the interim chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill and the members of the Chapel Hill Town Council, the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

This the 9th day of April, 2019.