THE CASH STUFF FOR 09-10-26

BLACK STUDENTS AT 

UNC-CHAPEL HILL 

DECRY “RACIAL ATTACK”

DURING WATCH PARTY

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

Black students at UNC-Chapel Hill are blasting the campus administration after a terrifying incident on August 31st left them feeling particularly unsafe.

According to the campus student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, “…a racially motivated attack…took place in Greenlaw Hall Monday night (August 31st.). The perpetrator entered a “Love Island” watch party hosted by several Black student organizations to throw objects at attendees and brandish a makeshift incendiary device.”

The Daily Tar Heel continued, “…during the watch party, the perpetrator entered the Greenlaw Hall classroom and made racially charged threats. Students in attendance said they felt that their lives were threatened.” “After leaving the academic building, the attacker was also spotted chasing students through the Pit while threatening them with open flames.”

UNC Campus police eventually caught up with the suspect, who was identified as 45-year-old Keegan Carlisle Wilson, a UNC alumnus. UNC police say that Wilson’s apparently having a mental breakdown when he came on campus. He was committed to UNC Hospital “due to exhibiting mental distress.” Once cleared, authorities intended to charge Wilson with disorderly conduct, vandalism, damage to property and aggravated assault along with banning him from campus.

Reportedly, 80-100 Black students were affected by the “racial attack” and sought counseling afterwards.

The suspect’s unidentified mother is quoted in subsequent published reports saying that “The system failed us,” referring to her inability to “get him mental health help for months.”

Meanwhile, UNC-Chapel Hill Administration and UNC - Chapel Hill Police are  pushing back on accusations by Black student leaders  and faculty members that those watch party students were essentially “abandoned” while they were under attack.

Some who were trapped by Wilson during the attack claim that there was no campuswide Alert Carolina message issued, warning of the incident.

UNC Police Chief Brian James maintained that no campus alert message was sent out because of the length of time it takes to confirm an incident, and ten have that confirmation approved. Even so, Chief James said the suspect was taken into custody within 17 minutes  of officers being alerted.

"He was in custody and there was no longer a threat to campus," Chief James told WRAL-TV. "What I don't want to happen is, we're sending out multiple alerts all the time about everything, and then, when it pops up, I really need you to pay attention to it. You're like, 'Oh, this is another Alert Carolina message.”

Still, some UNC faculty members say the system has worked differently in the past.

"This is an incident where 80 to 100 of our students thought there was an imminent threat to their lives. They were ducking under their desks," Mark Peifer of UNC’s Dept. of Biology said. "This is, from my perspective, the most serious incident we've had on campus since when a gun was drawn and someone was killed."  

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