I know what you're thinking.
UNC-Chapel Hill won the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship to redeem the tragic loss against Villanova in 2016.
The headline in the Daily Tar Heel read "At Last, Redemption."
I know.
I saw.
And you better believe that the confetti fell, and that I ran from the Dean Dome all the way to Franklin St., and sang the Alma Mater, and cried, and cheered and nearly passed out.
It was truly an experience that will outlive any other, and as painful as it is to admit, I think it was worth the crippling cost of tuition and my increasing student debt.
So if this experience was as miraculous as I've stated, why does the headline of this article state the complete opposite? To that, I have to say that not everything is as it seems.
Let's begin with Silent Sam, the statue that has caused so much controversy since the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, largely because it can be considered racist. It represents alumni that served in the civil war, but it is offensive because it is memorializing the south, which fought to keep the practice slavery. It's caused protests, vandalism and a lot of negative media attention. Nothing has been done to remove or change the statue to be less offensive. UNC has prided itself in its desire to enhance diversity, but to some Silent Sam resembles something very different.
But that's not all.
On October 3 of this year, a woman was assaulted and robbed on Manning Dr. This street is right beside my first-year dorm and is surrounded by other first-year dorms.The suspect has not been found.
While the woman was not a UNC student or affiliate, several students walk on Manning Dr. at night to return to their dorms. In some cases, they are walking alone which is not recommended. This particular assault involved a woman walking alone, but another more recent assault took place when two individuals were walking together on campus.
On December 5, a female student and her friend were approached and assaulted by the Old Well. The suspect stole her purse and ran towards Franklin st. This case is even more significant than the last because it took place closer to the heart of campus.
It is often suggested that people walk in pairs rather than alone at night to avoid incidents such as these. However, the above case depicts the message that even walking in pairs is not good enough.
Wait, I've got more.
Danger is not just lurking on campus at night. In some situations, it can occur in broad daylight.
On November 2, A bomb was placed at the base of Davie Poplar, the historic tree planted when UNC was first founded. It caught on fire and then exploded, causing burns to a professor that tried to put it out. The suspect is an ex-student, and he yelled some lovely phrases in the midst of the situation, such as "Hail Satan," and my personal favorite: "This is the revelation. You are witnessing the antichrist." I was unfortunate enough to encounter the suspect as he was being arrested, yelling these phrases directly at me.
Adding on to this list of stories, on a much sadder note, UNC students and the greater community have experienced the death of a student in the Hinton-James dorm within the last week. My condolences to the family and friends of this student.
So in total, UNC isn't doing so hot in 2017. Yes, we won the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Yes, several other sports won championships this year. And yes, UNC continues to cultivate students that give back to their community as mentioned in the "For All Kind" campaign. All of these accomplishments are wonderful, but we can't only be defined by our accomplishments.
Perhaps, UNC needs to try again next year. Or maybe UNC's New Year's Resolutions should be to implement stronger attempts at welcoming diversity, increase safety procedures to decrease the number of assaults occurring on or near campus, and offer psychiatric help that isn't counterproductive.
But what do I know? I'm just a lowly student studying for exams.
