On March 11, 2025 the ACLU of NC, with partners Emancipate NC and Muslim Advocates, filed a lawsuit challenging the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's ongoing punishment of certain individuals involved in the nondisruptive, pro-Palestine encampment on campus last spring.
On April 26, 2024, UNC students and non-students established the encampment to bring awareness to the genocide perpetrated against Palestinians in Gaza. At around 5:30AM on April 30, 2024, UNC administrators told some encampment participants that they had less than 30 minutes to disperse or face arrest. Law enforcement then forcibly cleared the encampment and violently arrested the students and non-students on site, kicking the cane out from under one visibly disabled protestor, causing her to tear a ligament in her shoulder. Those who were arrested were charged with criminal trespass and issued lifetime bans from the entirety of UNC's campus.
This lawsuit argues UNC's actions are:
- An unconstitutional prior restraint on protected speech in violation of the First Amendment;
- Unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment;
- Unconstitutional retaliation against protected speech in violation of the First Amendment;
- A violation of the plaintiffs' rights to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment;
- Unlawful arrest under the Fourth Amendment; and,
- Excessive force under the Fourth Amendment.
The ACLU of NC asserts that the right to protest and speak freely is a fundamental pillar of our democracy and is especially important on university campuses, which often serve as social, cultural, and community gathering spaces for members of the public. These actions by UNC administrators run counter to the missions of higher education and the deep-rooted protections of the First Amendment.
UPDATE: On April 18, 2025, ACLU-NC filed a first amended verified complaint.
UPDATE: On April 24, 2025, ACLU-NC filed a motion for and brief in support of a preliminary injunction action asking the Court to find UNC's actions created an unconstitutional prior restraint on protected speech in violation of the First Amendment and that the bans were issued in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. We also ask the Court to order UNC lift the lifetime campus bans imposed on the plaintiffs and be prohibited from issuing such bans to the plaintiffs without adequate process.
