Emancipate NC remains at the forefront of the legal fight to defend the constitutional rights of students and community members who were indefinitely banned from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill following the 2024 campus protests.
As highlighted in a recent Carolina Journal article, Emancipate NC is part of the legal team, alongside the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation and Muslim Advocates, representing the plaintiffs in their federal lawsuit challenging UNC’s campus bans and related constitutional violations.
The case has already achieved significant victories. Earlier this year, a federal judge ordered UNC to lift the indefinite trespass bans against three plaintiffs, finding that the university had failed to justify preventing them from engaging in protected speech on campus. The court also allowed key First Amendment and related claims to move forward, concluding that the plaintiffs had plausibly alleged the bans were unreasonable and not viewpoint neutral.
At Emancipate NC, we believe protecting the right to protest is essential to protecting democracy. We are proud to stand with students, advocates, and community members to ensure that government institutions cannot silence dissent through unconstitutional policies or indefinite exclusions from public spaces.