At UNC, a Double Standard on Which Atrocities Warrant Concern
UNC student group endorses massacre of Israelis
Well, somebody has to say it. UNC-Chapel Hill leadership went out of its way to publicly communicate empathy for Ukrainians following Russia’s invasion. But after Hamas militants slaughtered Israeli civilians, there’s been no similar outpouring of support, even as a UNC student group praises the massacre.
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In the hours and days following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz sent out public statements, tweets, and missives to the “Carolina Community” expressing solidarity.
“As a global university, we know there are people in our community who are deeply impacted by the conflict in Ukraine and are scared for their home country, families, and friends,” Guskiewicz said 24 hours after Russia invaded Ukraine. “If you or anyone you know need support during this time, please visit care.unc.edu for a list of resources.”
Yet there has been no similar signal of solidarity from UNC leadership, even though UNC is still a global university and there are certainly people in the UNC community who are deeply impacted by Hamas’s actions in Israel, which reportedly include the rape, murder, and kidnapping of civilians.
There is no statement or tweet from Chancellor Guskiewicz that we could find. There is no message to the “Carolina Community” that we could find, either.
One might argue that UNC has no real business commenting on global affairs. We would generally agree with that sentiment, except UNC itself established that it does have business commenting on global affairs – the university did so multiple times just last year.
The precedent thus set, the question now is why does UNC see fit to express support for Ukrainians targeted by militants, but not for Israelis targeted by militants? And why did UNC see fit to share support resources for students following the Ukrainian invasion, but not following the slaughter of Israelis?
We get it – the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complicated. It’s much easier to “stand with Ukraine” and ignore what happened in Israel.
Meanwhile, the night after the massacre, UNC Students for Justice in Palestine praised Hamas and endorsed violence, writing, “We are witnessing anticolonial justice in action...It is our moral obligation to be in solidarity with the dispossessed, no matter the pathway to liberation they choose to take. This includes violence.”
We’ve argued in the past for very wide latitude in what students and professors say, think, and argue on campus. That latitude even extends to UNC Students for Justice in Palestine, despicable though their rhetoric may be.
But UNC leadership can’t have it both ways. They can’t press the easy button and offer students mental health support following Ukraine’s invasion, then go apparently silent following an atrocity in Israel while extreme student groups outwardly praise the violence.
