The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has banned a Young Americans for Freedom student from campus after she and her boyfriend planted Israeli flags on campus grounds and confronted pro-Hamas leftists who were vandalizing the display.
On May 5, a student noticed that the flags were being removed and broken on the north end of UNCC’s campus. The two attempted to follow the pro-Hamas leftist individuals to ask them to stop, but did not immediately get a chance to speak with them as the group left quickly.
Later that evening, the students were confronted by a leader of the pro-Hamas student organization named Lena Ayesh. Ayesh demanded that they stop taking photos of the vandalism, accused them of genocide, and hurrled profane language at the couple before leaving.
The student is currently pursuing her associate’s degree at neighboring Central Piedmont Community College and had plans to transfer into a bachelor’s program at UNC Charlotte. Following the incident, UNCC issued a trespass notice against her, warning that she will be arrested if she sets foot on campus again.
UNCC’s threat assessment officer, Heather Kloeker-Webster, told the student that the only condition under which she would ever be allowed on campus is for an official “business need,” and that she would need to have a visit arranged through the university’s police department.
While the student is treated like a criminal and her plans to transfer into a four-year UNCC bachelor’s program are thrown into jeopardy, the pro-Hamas leftists have faced no consequences at all for their destruction of property.
The flags, part of Young America’s Foundation’s Stand With Israel initiative, were intended to serve as a show of support for Jewish and Israeli students on campus as well as a stand against Hamas–a position that all Americans ought to hold.
“I’m not sure why pro-Hamas students get to destroy property, but I’ll be arrested if I step foot on campus,” she remarked.
Unfortunately, far too many public institutions seem to think that they have the right to prevent the expression of viewpoints that might not be popular with their radicalized student bodies.
In fact, it was the University of North Carolina’s own recent study that found that 70% of conservative students fear social repercussions for sharing their opinions. Now, they’ll have to add fear of being banned from campus to their findings.
