A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) student who protected the American flag during recent pro-Palestinian protests originally grew up in Russia.
Earlier this week, a number of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity members and students at UNC went viral on social media after they were seen protecting an American flag amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests on the campus.
According to Fox News Digital, one of the students who was seen protecting the flag was identified as Dan Stompel, a junior at UNC studying political science.
On his LinkedIn account, Stompel states that he was born in South Carolina but moved to Russia shortly after. “I’ve called the U.S. home since 2009 and broadened my worldview through high school in Israel,” Stompel wrote on his about page.
Over the past several weeks, pro-Palestinian protests have broken out at a number of different college campuses, including UNC, Columbia University, Yale University, George Washington University and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Tensions across college campuses have remained high since October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead and saw over 200 more taken hostage. More than 34,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the war began, The Associated Press reported, citing local health officials.
At UNC, pro-Palestinian protesters replaced the U.S. flag on the campus’s main quad, with a Palestinian flag, sparking clashes between protestors and counter-protestors amid wider demonstrations.
