On Monday, Nov. 11 at approximately 11:30 p.m., a student was sprayed in the face by an aerosol paint can, following a confrontation that occurred at the Free Expression Tunnel. Members of the No Hate at NC State coalition took down posters and covered advertisements put up by members of the NC State chapter of Turning Point USA, leading to an argument between members of both groups.
The incident occurred two days before a contentious event hosted by TPUSA called Culture War, featuring Charlie Kirk and Lara Trump. According to a statement from No Hate at NC State, the members of the coalition had just ended a meeting for a planned protest to the Turning Point USA event, and while walking through the Free Expression Tunnel, the group decided to spray paint messages over a large painted advertisement for the Wednesday event.
At this point, the statement said members of Turning Point USA claimed the tunnel was “their property” and began filming themselves confronting students who were spray painting the tunnel. It was at this point Jack Bishop, a first-year in exploratory studies, was sprayed.
In a video that recorded the incident Bishop stands in front of a wall, covering the advertisement put up by TPUSA. An unnamed student is spray painting the wall next to Bishop when Bishop is sprayed in the face. It is disputed whether Bishop intentionally moved his head in front of the can or whether the person spray painting moved it in front of his face.
According to the statement, a TPUSA member bumped into a No Hate at NC State member, and the former claimed they were shoved. Bishop has claimed this was not the case; rather, a No Hate at NC State member ran into a TPUSA member. This led to TPUSA members calling campus police, who according to Bishop arrived on the scene at approximately 11:50 p.m.
The No Hate at NC State statement said when police arrived, two of its members were detained and conduct referrals were issued to members of both No Hate at NC State members and TPUSA members, but no arrests were made.
Bishops claims the student spray painting “briefly jerked” the paint into his eye and back out of it. He said initially, he didn’t react from the pain, but five minutes later, he was in pain and an emergency responder checked on him.
According to the statement and Bishop, the police accepted descriptions of two people at the incident: one who sprayed Bishop’s face, who he intends to charge with assault, and another to be charged for property damage, as they sprayed Bishop’s jacket. Bishop later tweeted support to campus police and called on them to find the two people.
“I’ve filed charges for assault and property damage to both perpetrators. Thank you @NCSUPolicefor your timely response. Please find these thugs and bring them to justice,” the tweet read.
No Hate at NC State’s statement disputes the validity of these charges.
“It is clear that TPUSA intentionally created this confrontation and then called the police to misconstrue the facts,” the statement says.
The protests planned by the No Hate at NC State coalition started at 5:30 p.m. at Wolf Plaza on Wednesday, Nov. 13, approximately two hours before the Culture War event is set to begin in Talley Student Union.
