Free Speech Group Criticizes UNC for Refusing to Discipline Disruptors of Bari Weiss Talk

The administration fails to take action even after a publicly planned, concerted assault on the free speech rights of a visiting speaker
Free Speech Group Criticizes UNC for Refusing to Discipline Disruptors of Bari Weiss Talk
The campus of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, N.C., on June 29, 2023. Eros Hoagland/Getty Images
Michael Washburn
Updated:
0:00

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill has failed to meet its legal obligations to protect the right of the visiting speaker, journalist Bari Weiss, to express her views freely and to discipline members and supporters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) who blatantly disregarded both university policy and state law by disrupting her talk and attempting to shout her down.

That’s the view of Speech First, a Washington-based advocacy group, which today sent the UNC-Chapel Hill board of trustees a letter, a copy of which The Epoch Times has obtained, outlining its concerns over events during at a Jan. 22 talk by Ms. Weiss and their aftermath.

Michael Washburn
Michael Washburn
Reporter
Michael Washburn is a New York-based reporter who covers U.S. and China-related topics for The Epoch Times. He has a background in legal and financial journalism, and also writes about arts and culture. Additionally, he is the host of the weekly podcast Reading the Globe. His books include “The Uprooted and Other Stories,” “When We're Grownups,” and “Stranger, Stranger.”
Related Topics