First Amendment Day 2026: The UNC Encampments, 3 Years Later

This event will examine the state of free expression, protest, surveillance and institutional accountability at UNC in the wake of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment and the campus controversies that followed. Looking back on a moment that many view as a turning point in the university’s history, panelists will discuss the tensions between political dissent and administrative authority, the university’s response to student activism, the role of policing and disciplinary measures in higher education and broader questions about freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and academic freedom on campus.

This First Amendment Day, join us to ask these questions together with the community members who experienced the encampment three years ago and are living in its legacy today. What was it about the encampment that made it such an exception to UNC’s stated commitments to free expression? Why was speech about Palestine treated as such a threat? How has the university’s approach to protest and dissent changed since the Encampment? And, more broadly, who gets to determine what can be said, protested, displayed or challenged at the university?