UNC responds to demonstrators asking for students to be given amnesty after protests

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- The only things you can hear on campus Monday at UNC-Chapel Hill are a few student footsteps and the lights.

They are hard to miss at Polk Place in the middle of campus.

So are the giant fences guarding a place where demonstrators sat last week.

ABC11 cameras were in Chapel Hill on Sunday as protesters continued to call on the university to cut ties with Israel and to pardon the more than 30 students detained last week.

A petition was signed and walked to administrators Monday as well urging professors and other staff to hold off on grades until students are given amnesty.

The university responded by saying it cannot happen.

A message sent from UNC-Chapel Hill Provost Chris Clemens and Graduate School Dean Beth Mayer-Davis to deans and department chairs said in part, "We strongly support the right of faculty and graduate students to express their opinions freely but there are better ways to do this than hurting our students and abrogating our contract with the people who support our university."

Council members from Chapel Hill and Carrboro also weighed in on the matter, condemning what they say are "aggressive police tactics." They also want the charges dropped.

"I think people are confused, depressed, uncertain, worried, angry a lot of emotions going around," said Theo Nollert, a town council member. "The job of an elected official is to articulate the values of the community and situations where those values are being called into question."

Full statement from Clemens and Mayer-Davis

Dear Deans and Department Chairs,

We are hearing concerns from students whose instructors have informed them they will withhold grades as part of a protest. These students depend on the timely submission of their grades for graduation, jobs, and athletic eligibility, and it is part of the required duties of all faculty and graduate TAs to submit grades by the registrar deadlines.

We are asking you to please work with your faculty and graduate students to ensure that we follow exemplary practice in our work as educators. We strongly support the right of faculty and graduate students to express their opinions freely but there are better ways to do this than hurting our students and abrogating our contract with the people of North Carolina who support our university. We are counting on your leadership in this matter.

The provost's office will support sanctions for any instructor who is found to have improperly withheld grades, but is our hope we can resolve this matter amicably and without harm to students.

Excellence in the classroom and in research are a credit to the institution and a vital service to the students and people of North Carolina. It would be a disservice to all of you and to the institution if a minority of instructors were to damage the trust we hold with our students by withholding grades. Thank you for your support.