This week, Brianna Atkinson at WUNC published a two-part series about student activists who reflected on their lives one year since a pro-Palestinian protest resulted in violence on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. She spoke with two students who were there and played a central role, one year after the incident occurred.

Activist Laura Saavedra Forero was doxxed, criminally charged, and lost a prestigious scholarship. Brendan Rosenblum was pictured in a viral image taken during the protest, which threw him into a political media frenzy that largely ignored his Jewish advocacy and instead painted him as a conservative folk hero.

These stories are the result of extended time with each student, reported through multiple interviews and walks on UNC’s campus where she asked them about that day in their own words. This time led Atkinson to an observation: “For all their differences, they share a commitment to their cause and a deep humanity that has gotten lost in all that happened that day — and since.”

Meet our newest editor

This week we welcomed our newest editor, Maye Primera, into our newsroom. A bilingual journalist, she has worked as a reporter and editor for more than 20 years, covering politics, immigration, borders, and human rights across the Americas. As she gets started in her new role coaching reporters in our network, I wanted to share a conversation we had this week:

What drew you to this work? Higher education and media are two fields that are under a lot of scrutiny these days.

It may sound insane, but as a journalist, I have always been attracted to conflict. When there’s a fire and people are trying to escape, I tend to run toward the flames. So perhaps this is the case again, as higher education has become a hard news beat under this administration. There’s a huge potential for harm that we should document and inform the public about.

In recent weeks, we've seen a lot of news about visa revocations and immigration status on college campuses. Legal statuses were recently restored for some students, but last month Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a justification for these terminations: “We are not going to be importing activists into the United States.” How does this compare to previous reporting you’ve done on political upheaval in the Americas? 

We can see already through coverage in our partner newsrooms that international students are scared and beginning to wonder if the United States is a welcome place to study. It seems that the ultimate message to them is that, from now on, having an opinion or a political stance that challenges the policies or the ideas of the party in power could be a punishable offense.

Our local network is reporting on what this looks like for the people here to study on visas and how the political whiplash affects them, but, understandably, many students are scared to talk. What's something you wish the public understood about this demographic?

Misconceptions about immigrant communities are very common, and that includes the community of international students. Oftentimes, Americans wrongly believe that they are getting a free education or taking away opportunities from U.S. citizens, but that’s not true. On the contrary, targeting and scaring away international students can result in a significant loss of revenue, not only for universities but also for the local economies they exist in.

What are you most looking forward to in this new role?

I guess every editor shares the same aspiration: I look forward to helping my reporters thrive and shine.

We’re a nonprofit newsroom that relies on your support. If this type of reporting matters to you, donate to Open Campus today.

Elsewhere in Open Campus

In Chicago: A student who recently completed his master’s degree at the University of Illinois Chicago was abruptly forced to return to India after his visa was terminated. Once he arrived, he learned that his status had been restored. He’s not sure he’ll return, though.

In Florida: Ian Hodgson reported a follow up on the New College employee who was arrested for indecent exposure and later fired for by the university. Although he had charges before this latest incident, none of the cases showed up in a background check requested by the school, nor did the employee voluntarily disclose them, according to documents obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.

In New York City: CUNY’s research on vaccine misinformation was halted by the Trump Administration. It’s among sixty other CUNY projects which have also received stop-work orders from the National Institute of Health, according to a letter from the chancellor.

Keep in touch

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