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UNC-Chapel Hill is facing a federal complaint filed on behalf of students and faculty members who say the university has systematically discriminated against Palestinian students and their allies in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Palestine Legal filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice April 5, on behalf of graduate student Kylie Broderick and professor Elyse Crystall, a member and faculty advisor to Students for Justice in Palestine respectively. In a letter and 95-page collection of exhibits, the group outlines what it says is preferential treatment of Israeli students and their allies and targeting of pro-Palestine students and groups from the attack late last year, through campus protests around the conflict and continuing to the current day.
The group is asking for an investigation into discrimination that may violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The complaint is one of a number of such complaints Palestine Legal has filed on behalf of students and faculty involved in protests revolving around the most recent Hamas-Israel conflict. In the last few months the group has taken action against Emory University in Georgia, Columbia University in New York and Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
In the complaint against UNC-Chapel Hill, the group said the discriminatory treatment began shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack.
“On October 10, 2023, the Dean of Students’ office sent an email to all current and former students whose birthplaces were listed ‘in or around Israel’ in UNC records to extend support and resources—including mental health counseling and academic accommodation,” wrote Zoha Khalili, senior staff attorney with Palestine Legal, in the letter. “According to students we have spoken with, several Palestinian students received this message because their birthplace was listed as Israel. No other Palestinian students reported receiving this message.
On October 12 and 13, the group wrote, then-Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Chief Diversity Officer Leah Cox met with members of North Carolina Hillel for two hours. They then sent follow-up letters to the campus saying “senseless acts of terror in Israel by Hamas are horrifying.”
University administration sent no similar messages acknowledging “the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians by the Israeli government,” the letter said. Similarly, the group said, the administration said there is “no place for antisemitism or prejudice on our campus” without similarly condemning racism against Muslims, which was also on display as the conflict took shape or offering the same support and resources to Palestinian students who were impacted.
“By reducing the issue to one that affects students based on their religious identities, the chancellor omitted the ways national origin also shapes how people, particularly Palestinians, are affected by the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians, irrespective of their religious affiliation or lack thereof,” the group wrote in its complaint.
In a written statement to Newsline Tuesday, a UNC-Chapel Hill spokesman said the university “has not been notified by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) about a complaint filed by or on behalf of Palestinian students.”
“We will cooperate fully with any requests for information from OCR,” the statement read. “And remain committed to promoting a safe and equitable environment to all members of the Carolina community that is free from harassment and discrimination.”
Objections to comments by UNC-Chapel Hill trustee
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University leaders and members of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees mischaracterized on-campus protests on the issue, the complaint alleges, singling out UNC-Chapel Hill Trustee Marty Kotis specifically.
Kotis, like all members of the board of trustees, are political appointees of the North Carolina General Assembly’s Republican majority. He is also a former member of the UNC System Board of Trustees, whose members are overwhelmingly conservative.
“Kotis said in an October 12 email referencing the campus rally for Palestine that had been held that day that ‘it’s been reported that some of the speeches today were given in Arabic and the need [sic] to translate those to ensure there were not calls for or threats of violence,'” the group wrote in its complaint.
The group cites similar emails expressing concern about the use of Arabic from Frederick E. Seller, vice president for Safety & Emergency Operations for the UNC System and former State Rep. Jon Hardister.
“The baseless association of the Arabic language with threats reflects longstanding anti-Arab and anti-Muslim tropes,” the group wrote in its complaint.
References to needing a “threat assessment” were particularly disturbing because students involved in the protest movement had reported receiving their own harassment and death threats online, the complaint reads.
Shortly after the cited email, Kotis called for the university to investigate Students for Justice in Palestine, to end any official university recognition and funding of the student group.
Speaking to Newsline Tuesday, Kotis reiterated his stance, citing the fact that the group recently disrupted a board of trustees meeting. Kotis said he wasn’t surprised to find himself cited in the group’s complaint.
“If I’m at odds with people who call America a colonizer nation or call for death to America, great,” Kotis said. “I’m happy to be at odds with a group that wants to wage a global intifada on American soil because I’m completely opposed to their ideology.”
This article originally appeared in the NC Newsline on April 10th, 2024.
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