Following changes to UNC’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy, The Black Student Movement at UNC (BSM) alleges it has been stripped of its access and input to a South Campus lounge. The Upendo Lounge has long been used as a safe space for Black students on campus, and BSM recently held a press conference to voice its demands for the university.
On Friday, members of UNC’s BSM gathered outside the North Student Academic Services Building (SASB), the home of Upendo Lounge. There, the group’s president Adam Sherif explained how it was only August when BSM learned it could no longer reserve the space for its meetings.
“We were notified by Vice Provost for Student Affairs Amy Johnson and Vice Provost Leah Cox that we would need to discuss the implications of Upendo following new federal guidelines released by Attorney General Pam Bondi. In reality, the call had already been made. We were there to be told, not heard.”
The lounge originated in Chase Dining Hall in 1973 after years of BSM advocating for a safe space on campus for Black students. It later moved to SASB, typically providing today’s students with a cultural hub to study, socialize, and gather in a predominately Black atmosphere, according to a release from the campus group.
The Upendo Lounge is currently located at the North Student Academic Services Building (SASB), outside of which The Black Student Movement at UNC held its October 10 press conference.
But on September 5, Sherif said UNC informed the organization it no longer held co-ownership status over Upendo, with plans to turn it into a permanent conference room. The decision followed the UNC Board of Governors ban of DEI across NC public universities, in response to a national anti-DEI memo.
Although the BSM leaders Friday argued the organization “liberally” helps facilitate the use of the space by other groups, often those that are not Black-serving, the federal guidelines state how spaces like the lounge discourage students of other races from accessing it. Sherif said the guidelines also suggest how spaces like the lounge may foster a hostile environment.
“There are buildings and spaces on this campus named after people who participated in slavery, committed treason against the United States, and led vigilante groups to terrorize Black voters,” Sherif said. “But the space that gets targeted for potentially creating a hostile environment literally means ‘love’ in Swahili.”
Sherif called the space one of BSM’s “chief accomplishments” since its founding in 1967. As the university’s largest on-campus cultural organization, he said it has also helped to increase Black student enrollment, found UNC’s African, African American and Diaspora Studies Department, and generally address cultural and diversity issues on campus.
“Upendo has been under attack for years,” Sherif added. “This space was not taken away because of this memo. It has been chipped at for years. This is their edge to take it away.”
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At the press conference, BSM’s Political Action Co-Chair Samuel Scarborough presented the group’s demands for the university, including restoring its ownership status of Upendo.
“Our first demand, first and foremost, is that our university stand up against federal pressures and not take this nonsense memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi,” Scarborough said. “Take a stand not only for Black students, but for all students at the school. Because we know once they strike against us, they’re striking against all other groups on this campus and their right to a free and welcome space.”
The group’s other demands are for a plaque to be displayed outside the lounge, written by BSM to honor the space and its significance to the campus community. The organization is also asking for UNC to preserve the Upendo name, keep copies of the artwork currently displaying Upendo’s history on its walls, and return the original artwork to BSM.
“Finally, we call upon our Black alumni, our Black community members, we call on anybody, anyone of conscience to support us in this crucial moment,” Scarborough said. “Whether that’s financially or meeting with us to continue the struggle, not only for Upendo Lounge, but for creating an environment on this campus that supports Black students and all students.”
The group’s First Year Council Membership Chair Kori Billingslea said she hardly had a chance to use the lounge before it got taken away. Currently in her first semester at UNC, she explained what it is like to see the university strip away what she believes to be an important space to both Black history and safety on campus.
“It’s not a great feeling,” Billingslea said. “Obviously we’re admitted here as students for UNC, and it feels when we have spaces like this taken away that they see us more as a number or they’re looking at us to fit a diversity quota and they don’t actually see us as students.”
At its core, Billingslea said the demands are about preventing the university from erasing Upendo’s history.
“If it turns into a conference room, [then for] future freshman and underclassmen, it becomes a word-of-mouth sort of thing,” Billingslea said.”‘Oh, remember the Upendo Lounge, like what it used to be?’ The goal is to not have that happen, to keep that history alive and have the demands of BSM met.”
In a statement to Chapelboro Tuesday, UNC Media Relations said while the university recognizes the historical relevance of the lounge and the importance of student groups having an accessible space to meet on campus, Upendo has always been wholly owned and operated by the school.
“The room always served as a conference room as one of its functions,” the statement read. “As a result of these changes, it can only be reserved by the administrative units in the building. The Black Student Movement can reserve any spaces in buildings around campus that are available to all student organizations and groups, consistent with the System policy and federal guidance.”
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