The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is cautioning professors and faculty members against withholding students’ final grades after students expressed concerns some professors were going to do so in an apparent protest against the university.

After anti-Israel demonstrations sprang up on the campus, university administrators took action to restore order on the campus. Students who participated in the unrest faced disciplinary action. Professors at UNC-Chapel Hill reportedly planned to show support for those students who were allegedly suspended from the university by organizing an effort to withhold all students’ final grades.

On Tuesday, UNC-Chapel Hill Provost Chris Clemens and Graduate School Dean Beth Mayer-Davis sent a letter to deans and department chairs addressing the apparent protest.

“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,” Clemens and Mayer-Davis said in the joint statement.

The university’s statement comes after UNC students were notified that some professors “along with many other faculty, teaching assistants, fellows, and graders” would be protesting the university’s disciplinary action against the 15 suspended students by withholding grades.

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-NC, said professors who withhold students’ grades should be “immediately” terminated from the university.

“UNC professors should be protecting students who are targets of antisemitism and violence. They should not be protecting the bigots and antisemites. Fire any faculty or staff participating in withholding grades immediately,” he tweeted on X.

 

On Monday, several students got a message via the school portal that said, “In solidarity with these students, I [the unnamed author] (along with many other faculty, teaching assistants, fellows, and graders across campus) have decided to withhold my reporting of final grades to the Registrar’s Office,” the Carolina Journal reported.

“On May 13, if the administration has not reinstated the suspended students, you will see a NR (for Not Reported) on your transcript,” the message board reads. “An NR does not change your GPA positively or negatively, and can remain on your transcript until the end of the following semester. I will keep a personal record of your grades so that, once the administration meets our demands, the grades you earned will be recorded.”

The university responded to the apparent protest by warning that professors could face “sanctions.”