In the wake of national school protests over gun violence, NC State Office of Undergraduate Admissions announced in a statement on Feb. 26 that any punishments a high school student may receive for peacefully protesting will not impact their admission decision.

On Feb. 14, a student opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people, which included 14 students and three staff members. One month after the shooting, high schools across the United States took part in a national movement to protest gun violence and remember those lost in the shooting by peacefully walking out of their classrooms for 17 minutes at 10 a.m.

Thomas Griffin, associate vice provost and director of undergraduate admissions, said they released a statement to provide answers for those questioning the position of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

“We were getting a number of questions,” Griffin said. “It was good to go ahead and just put a statement out so that students wouldn’t have to worry or search or feel like there was something hanging over their head when we were just going to look at it in the context of the rest of their record anyway.”

NC State has also received several applications from students currently attending Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

“We were concerned about the whole situation because we have several applicants from [Marjory] Stoneman Douglas High School this year,” Griffin said. “We wanted to be as supportive of those applicants as we can.”

According to Griffin, the biggest disciplinary concerns that the Office of Undergraduate Admissions has when looking at student applications are academic integrity and campus safety.

“It isn’t a school safety issue if somebody is protesting against school violence in a peaceful way, that’s not something where we arise to concern,” Griffin said. “We just wanted to be clear about that. It seems like the students being active and having a voice and advocating for a cause, those are things that our students do all the time and as a university, we’re trying to not only think about problems but also do something about them. It falls in with our ‘think and do’ mentality.”

Thousands of students in the Triangle area participated in the walkout last Wednesday, including Elizabeth Hons, a senior at Rolesville High School.  

“It was really cool mostly because the school really supported us with doing this and they helped organize us,” Hons said. “They also handed out ribbons and stuff like that. It was just really amazing because about half the school came out and everybody was silent, and we just did a couple of laps around the school for that 17 minutes and it was absolutely amazing.” 

According to Hons, she believes it is the responsibility of the students to advocate for change because they are the population that is directly impacted. 

“Any time politicians have tried to make change, it hasn’t happened,” Hons said. “I think that it’s up to us, the high schoolers now, to make change because we are the people who are being affected by this. I think it’s really important for teenagers to be up on issues like this so that way we can change the world.”

Hons said that universities supporting high school students is an important aspect of students being able to speak up for what they believe in.

“It shows the university’s solidarity with the students,” Hons said. “I think it’s really important because then it makes sure that every student knows they have a voice and they won’t be punished for it.”

Students at another high school in the Triangle area, Needham B. Broughton High School, had planned to participate in the nation-wide protest, but their walkout was postponed due to a rumored threat made against it on social media.

Darcy McMillan, a senior from Needham B. Broughton High School, said the protest was supported by teachers, but mostly put together by students and they plan to reschedule the walkout soon.

“It was organized mainly by students,” McMillan said. “But the principal came out and said that she would allow us to go out and we would not be punished, but if we left campus that’s when the punishments would happen. So she was working with us most of the time, but it was mostly students.”

Although she appreciates the support from universities, McMillan said she would have participated in the walkout regardless.

“I think it’s absolutely amazing that colleges are coming out and saying that ‘hey we commend you for what you’re doing, we support you,’” McMillan said. “But to some extent we’re all pretty okay with any of the consequences to come from us speaking out about this and fighting it.”

McMillan said that supporting the victims and students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is important for joining together as high schoolers.  

“It’s the fear that it could happen to us,” McMillan said. “It’s not fair to let them be alone in the fight because we’re all in the same scenario and could be put in the situation at any moment. It’s kind of a support system, we’re trying to speak for some of them who can’t anymore, fight for what has been taken from them.” 

The March for Our Lives Raleigh will be taking place on Saturday in downtown Raleigh to protest gun violence and support those who have been affected by it. More information can be found on the event’s Facebook page.