UNC medical professor Charles van der Horst said the North Carolina legislature has done more harm than good this year.
“These folks are fiscally nutty, immoral, harming my patients, and hurting voters’ rights,” he said.
“They are trying to set us back.”
Van der Horst, who was arrested during a Moral Monday protest, participated in a panel discussion on the N.C. General Assembly’s activities last session.
Students, UNC faculty and community members gathered in the FedEx Global Education Center to hear a discussion sponsored by Scholars for North Carolina’s Future.
The five-member panel, moderated by Jesse White Jr., a government professor, included three UNC professors and two Duke University professors.
Kenneth Andrews, a UNC sociology professor, said the nature of the protests was remarkable.
“Moral Mondays have created a unique and important opportunity going forward,” Andrews said.
Jacquelyn Hall, a UNC history professor, urged an active coalition between women and minorities.
Hall said many strands of social justice activism are rooted in the Civil Rights Movement, and the effort should be continued to connect individual rights and economic justice.
Nancy MacLean, a Duke University professor, said North Carolina residents have the power to reverse the changes the legislature made — if they work as one.
“There is something that every one of us needs to get clearly in view,” she said.
“Each one these separate struggles depends on the government to act on issues that ordinary citizens come together to raise.”
Freshman Griffin Unger said the speakers were eloquent and passionate, but he said he wished the event had been more of a discussion or discourse among the panelists.
But he said the event made him want to attend a Moral Monday protest himself.
Junior Daisy Oti attended the panel for her women’s studies class and found the event to be motivating.
“The speakers were very passionate and did an excellent job conveying what Moral Monday is all about.”
Although she is unsure whether she will participate in a future protest, she said she was impressed by the discussion on challenging political and civil issues.
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