a Free speech rights groups filed complaints On Wednesday, students for Palestinian justice and anti-Israel activists protested for disrupting a Jan. 22 event on the University of North Carolina campus that included a prominent journalist and author who denounced anti-Semitism.
The speakers were Bari Weiss, formerly of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and Frank Bruni, a Duke University professor who worked for the Times for many years.
Activists from UNC’s Palestine Justice Student Chapter during the UNC meeting. shouted into the speaker Before leaving the auditorium, the complaint states:
The group of about 45 people slowly got up from their seats in the back and left the auditorium in about three minutes, shouting slogans such as “Barbari, we can’t hide, we’re committing genocide,” according to the report. That’s what it means. Author Peter Reitzes spoke about the incident.
The event continued afterward, but activists remained outside the venue after the event ended and yelled at participants, Reitzes added.
“A group of four masked SJP activists shouted at us and followed my group,” he said.
“The police seemed to be chasing the activists who were chasing us.
On January 16, UNC’s SJP chapter announced plans to disrupt the event with a “strike,” according to a complaint filed with UNC by the organization Free Speech First.
In a flyer organizing the protest, SJP calls Weiss “a right-wing political commentator in the United States who egregiously confuses anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism” and denounces “left-wing anti-Semitism.” he accused.
Mr. Weiss, the founder of the Free Press, resigned as a Times columnist, citing bias against conservative views.
Weiss, X said in a statement on Wednesday:“How did the most educated generation in American history become the most sympathetic to Hamas?”
The complaint filed with UNC alleges the heckling violated the state’s Campus Free Speech Act and the university’s own policy “prohibiting denying another person’s right to expression through substantial interference.” did.[ing]” or “substantially interferes with”[ing]” and “the right to participate in and listen to the expressive activities of others.”
“The right to free speech does not mean the right to silence others. What good is a campus policy or state law that protects free speech if there is no enforcement intent?” Cherise Trump, executive director of Freedom First, said in a statement Wednesday.
In its complaint, Speech First asks the university to initiate disciplinary proceedings against all students who participated in the speech protests.
The Post has reached out to UNC and SJP for comment.
Amid anti-Israel protests in response to Hamas’ October 7 invasion of the Jewish state and Israel’s military response in Gaza, university campuses have seen a surge in anti-Semitism complaints.
