--- title: "Black UNC Students Say the University Failed Them After Racist Attack at Watch Party" description: "The intruder at a Love Island watch party got probation; students say officials sent no alert and still won’t meet with them." author: "rews desk" published: 2026-09-30T18:30:00Z modified: 2026-09-30T22:41:12Z url: https://rews.cc/a/black-unc-students-say-the-university-failed-them-after-raci-30ba3d language: en tags: ["racism", "university", "trump", "diversity", "campus-safety", "us"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Black UNC Students Say the University Failed Them After Racist Attack at Watch Party *The intruder at a Love Island watch party got probation; students say officials sent no alert and still won’t meet with them.* By rews desk · September 30, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/black-unc-students-say-the-university-failed-them-after-raci-30ba3d ## In brief - A white man disrupted a Black student Love Island watch party at UNC-Chapel Hill on Aug. 31, yelling slurs and throwing items - Keegan Wilson, 45, pleaded guilty Sept. 28 to disorderly conduct and simple assault and got probation - No campus emergency alert was sent; the university said there was no ongoing threat - Black student leaders say Chancellor Lee Roberts and UNC police have given no answers and no meeting - Students link the attack to a broader climate as the Trump administration targets DEI programs A Black student watch party at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill turned into a hate crime on Aug. 31, when a white man walked in yelling racial slurs, threw items at students and reached into a bag as those inside dropped to the floor. One student shouted, “He’s got a gun!” The man had no gun. What he carried, students said, was a makeshift flamethrower. Several students called campus police, but officers first went to the wrong location and took nearly 20 minutes to arrive. By then the man was gone. Police identified the suspect as Keegan Wilson, a 45-year-old alumnus. On Sept. 28 he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and simple assault and received a suspended 60-day jail sentence and 12 months of unsupervised probation, with a judge ordering him to continue mental health treatment begun after his arrest, according to the News & Observer. Black student leaders say the university, and Chancellor Lee H. Roberts in particular, have failed them at every step since. No Carolina Alert, the campus emergency notification system, went out during or after the attack, including after Mr. Wilson was apprehended. “The university and administration, as well as UNC police, have failed to provide clarification as to why the response was delayed, as well as why an emergency alert was not sent out,” said Sada Maryanov, 21, a senior who is president of the campus NAACP chapter. In a statement to Capital B, the university said no alert went out because “UNC Police apprehended the suspect, and there was no ongoing threat to campus safety,” and that it is supporting those affected and the wider campus. Zora Deberry, the NAACP chapter’s vice president, said officials told student groups the threat had been “neutralized.” She and other leaders found the outreach to students afterward lacking; Ms. Maryanov said only some organizations and people at the party heard from administrators at all. Samuel Scarborough, 21, a senior adviser with the Black Student Movement, said the students had been left to defend themselves. “Black students, we were trying to build a sense of community,” he said. “Before the incident, people were getting pizza, fellowshipping, catching up.” Many who attended were freshmen. At a faculty council meeting on Sept. 4, Carl Kenney, a journalism professor, pressed the chancellor about students’ well-being. “There’s the academic answer and there’s the behavioral answer,” Mr. Roberts replied. “I’m going to give you the behavioral answer, which is don’t drop doors or let people in who you don’t recognize. … This was a person who didn’t look like a student. … We believe \[that\] is the more profound teachable moment.” Ms. Maryanov said the answer amounted to blaming Black students for a hate crime. The university said the chancellor went on to say he was not blaming students, and a spokesman said in an email to Capital B that the school often repeats safety tips because people unaffiliated with the university can freely come onto campus. The episode is one of several racist incidents on campuses this year. In March, the Miami Herald reported that a WhatsApp chat of Republican campus leaders at Florida International University used variations of the N-word more than 400 times in three weeks; the university suspended two student leaders for two years. In September, someone appeared near California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in Ku Klux Klan robes. “One would assume that the Klan has no space in San Luis Obispo,” the school’s Black Student Union said on Instagram. “But racism is foundational to the city, country and region.” The city said it “strongly denounces racism, discrimination, and hate in all forms”; the university has not commented publicly. Students also placed the attack in what they described as an atmosphere shaped by the Trump administration’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion programs at universities. “This incident \[has\] really raised the question of what kinds of actions has our university taken in alignment with the federal government to create this atmosphere where these behaviors feel like they’re safe to exist,” Mr. Scarborough said. Mr. Scarborough said he was not surprised by the response, pointing to 2018, when campus police escorted Confederate supporters holding a prayer gathering at the base of a toppled Confederate statue past a counterprotest, according to the Daily Tar Heel. In his view the university protected outsiders then and did so again this year. After the attack, Black organizations on campus formed the Black Student Organization Coalition and demanded a meeting with Mr. Roberts. Nearly a month later, it has not happened. Meanwhile, Black alumni posted an open letter to current students: “You cannot see this work but know that it is there. Know that we are here. Know that we are holding space with and for you.”