Student journalists and comedy writers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have gotten death threats after an April Fools’ day article and a Saturday Night Live-style video skit—both satirizing issues of race, class, and immigration status—caused a massive uproar on the easily triggered campus. University officials denounced the “completely unacceptable” and “deeply hurtful” satire, and announced an investigation into the video skit, only to backtrack several days later after receiving complaints from national free speech groups, UNC senior Ashley Dowdney reports for the Free Beacon. The student paper, the Daily Tar Heel, included in its annual April 1 satire issue a spoof report about President Donald Trump replacing the state’s Alcohol Law Enforcement agency, despised by many students on campus, with ICE. The “report” indicated that a federal agent had mistakenly arrested “a white girl who was sporting a suspect dark fake tan.” The satirical video skit—published by the student-run late night show Hill After Hours—featured an entitled white sorority girl touring UNC’s freshman budget housing with her bodyguards, describing the area as a “third-world country” and being condescending to Hispanic students. UNC senior vice provost for student success James Orr condemned the “racist and insensitive nature” of the material, which he described as “completely unacceptable” and “deeply hurtful.” He also pledged to “investigate” Hill After Hours. The approach clashes with Article 36 of UNC’s 2024 “equality” policy, which requires university officials to remain neutral on “political controversies of the day.” “Provost Orr’s ‘Statement on Behalf of the University’ certainly appears to violate the UNC system’s commitment to institutional neutrality,” said the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s special counsel for campus advocacy, Robert Shibley, who said the school’s reaction “seems likely to chill freedom of expression at UNC.” On Friday, UNC’s general counsel’s office reached out to FIRE, four days after Orr’s fiery denunciation, and backtracked, but not before the Daily Tar Heel and Hill After Hours folded like cheap suits, removing the content and issuing multiple groveling apologies. The Daily Tar Heel will now give editors DEI training—administered by UNC’s journalism school—and Hill After Hours told viewers, “Satire is not an excuse for ignorance.” Read the whole mindbending piece below. READ MORE: UNC Officials Accused of Not Protecting Students or Defending Free Speech After April Fools’ ICE Article, ‘Sorority Girl’ Skit Lead to Death Threats, Campus Uproar