Protests Take Off Nationwide Protests Trump’S Order People Gathered at the Peace and Justice Plaza to Speak out Against the ‘Muslim Ban.’
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Serving UNC students and the University community since 1893 Volume 123, Issue 125 dailytarheel.com Monday, January 30, 2017 Chapel Hill Protests take off nationwide protests Trump’s order People gathered at the Peace and Justice Plaza to speak out against the ‘Muslim ban.’ DTH ONLINE: Visit daily- tarheel.com for more video coverage of the protest. By Erik Beene Staff Writer DTH/ROBERT GOURLEY Protesters chant at Raleigh-Durham International Airport Sunday to show soli- More than 100 people gathered out- darity with other protests happening across the country. side the post office on Franklin Street Sunday to protest President Donald Trump’s executive order barring resi- dents of seven majority Muslim countries from entering the country. The protesters began gathering around noon to rally against Friday’s executive order, which they called a Muslim ban, and the suspension of the refugee program. “(Saturday) was horrendous,” said Karen Porter, a Carrboro resident who organized the rally. “I mean, it’s heartbreaking. I have Muslim friends, one in particular who’s been here for many, maybe 30 years. I know she’s been afraid even before yes- terday to go back and visit family in the Middle East. She’s always afraid that, ‘Maybe I’ll never get to see my mother again because I might (go) out and they won’t let me back in.’” DTH/ROBERT GOURLEY DTH/ALEX KORMANN Laura Lyons and Stephanie Ingram, Protesters gather outside Raleigh-Durham International Airport A man stands in counter-protest outside of Raleigh-Durham International who are both from Winston-Salem, Sunday in response to President Trump’s immigration ban. Airport Sunday. His sign draws attention to previous terrorist attacks. heard about the protest on Facebook and decided to drive to Chapel Hill. “There were various places where there NC residents feel impacts of Trump immigration order was going to be protesting the Muslim ban and various places all over the coun- By Corey Risinger and Ana Irizarry “I can’t think of any one particular event that His parents, who planned to visit the United try are simultaneously doing this,” Lyons Senior Writers an Iranian citizen was involved (in) — whether States in March, are unsure whether they will said. “This was the one closest to us.” 9/11 or the San Bernardino shooting,” he said. be permitted to enter the country with their Ingram said she was saddened by the For one UNC graduate student from Iran, He said he never expected something to green cards. lack of young people she saw in the crowd. President Donald Trump’s executive orders last happen so early in Trump’s administration. The student said despite the situation — and “We’re in Chapel Hill and most of week shifted more than international policy. “I know people, I know students who were the fact he will likely have to change his plans these people are over the age of 35 and The student, who wished to remain anony- in conferences with multiple entry visas, or for after graduation — he is trying to stay posi- that to me sends a message that our mous due to the sensitivity of the situation, they were in Iran visiting their families, and tive. young people do not realize how vital it is said it is unclear how Trump’s immigration they can’t come back,” he said. “I try to be positive because I see that there that they have a voice in this,” she said. restrictions — applied to seven Middle Eastern As he has a single entry student visa, the are people out there who are trying to make Chad Bryant, a UNC history professor, and North African nations including Iran — student said he aims to finish his program at things better,” he said. “And I hope that they said he came to support students that will continue to shape his life. UNC. But he is concerned the situation might can do something about it.” might be affected by the order. “I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m ordered to be less certain for his wife, who will need to “They are part of the community and leave the country before I finish my (degree),” reapply for an Optional Practical Training visa Evaluating the University response I think it’s important to stand up for he said. “I think the situation will be better, but extension. them,” he said. “They are not the people who knows.” “I have a year and a half to go, and probably Though he said he received a call Sunday from who are a danger to us in any way. In He said he doesn’t understand why Iran was that means one year living apart at least,” he included in Trump’s executive order. said if she must return to Iran. SEE AIRPORT, PAGE 6 SEE PROTEST, PAGE 6 EPA freeze causes concern for UNC institute Stranger follows The Trump administration first-year into dorm has expressed intent to cut The man tailed her deferred to DPS for questions environmental funding. regarding this case. through campus and As soon as she got up to By Kaitlyn Green her room, Montegrico said Staff Writer waited by her room. she saw through the peephole that the man was on her hall. In its first days in office, President By Leah Moore “I was telling my roommate Donald Trump’s administration Senior Writer what had happened, and implemented prohibitions against the I guess he heard my voice, Environmental Protection Agency that On Monday around 5 p.m., because I was talking really have raised alarm and uncertainty about first-year Nicole Montegrico loudly,” she said. “He was the future of programs at UNC. was followed by a suspicious about to go down the stairs The administration issued a temporary person into Everett Residence and then he heard the voices. freeze on all new grants and contracts for Hall. He just stood outside my door the EPA and declared a media blackout Montegrico said she did not for a while.” for its employees — freezing their social notice she was being followed Montegrico said a police media accounts and prohibiting them until she was on campus officer told her a similar from corresponding with the press. across from Time-Out Grill. incident occurred in Stacy The agency awards over $4 billion “He followed me all the way Residence Hall, another dorm annually — about half its budget — in DTH/PEGGY MULLIN to my dorm, and then when I in her community. grants to help various partners, including The UNC Institute for the Environment, which has some of its offices in Whitehead Hall, got up the stairs and opened “We weren’t even notified UNC, achieve their environmental goals. may have its funding affected by President Donald Trump’s recent freeze on grants. the door, he went past the that there was an instance in In an interview with the Associated stairs,” she said. “But as I was Stacy, or that this happened,” Press on Thursday, Myron Ebell, former ests in these big multidisciplinary chal- my, health and natural resources. going up, someone from my she said. “These things aren’t head of Trump’s EPA transition team, lenges,” Band said. “How do we sustain a healthy soci- hall was coming down. I ran up really preventable, per se, but said Trump will likely seek to drastically Band said some of the institute’s larg- ety? You can’t answer those questions the stairs, because I was really I just feel like if we were given cut the agency’s budget and workforce. est grants are master contracts on which without information about the environ- creeped out. I guess when that a heads-up or a notice that a UNC spokesperson Joanne Peters UNC employees collaborate with EPA ment around us — that is a fundamental girl who was going out opened report had been made in our said the EPA has given around $44 mil- workers. One of the current EPA-funded aspect,” Gray said. the door he just caught it and community, then there would lion for research at UNC in the past five projects is to develop air quality software Band shared the same sentiment, was able to go inside.” have been a lot more precau- years. She said UNC’s administration to help monitor air pollution and its con- emphasizing that the work of the Institute Randy Young, Department tions … I talked to my RA doesn’t know how the grant freeze will sequences on human health. of the Environment and other environ- of Public Safety spokesperson, about it, and she was infuri- affect the University. Kathleen Gray, the institute’s associ- mental research is crucial for the future. said DPS and the Department ated, because she wasn’t ever Larry Band, director of UNC’s Institute ate director for outreach and public “The environment can have a pretty of Housing and Residential notified about anything else for the Environment, said the depart- service, works on a project that receives long memory — meaning it’s not just a Education would like to see that happened, the incident ment’s interdisciplinary collaboration is EPA funds through a large grant housed matter of what happens in our lifetime students stop letting people that happened in Stacy or one of the reasons why the institute and in the North Carolina Department of and in the present, but what happens a tailgate behind them into anything.” its research are so valuable to UNC. Environmental Quality. She said the few years or a few decades or a few cen- their residence halls.