UNC Students Promise to Sit Out Bloomberg's Speech

When Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks to this year's graduating class at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Sunday, a group of 40 to 50 students are planning to skip his speech. That's because they already got the message Bloomberg sent by shutting down Occupy Wall Street last fall, as well as the message he continues to send by defending the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy and counterterrorism tactics, said UNC student Alanna Davis, one of a handful of North Carolina students who organized an alternative graduation to be held at the same time. "Personally, it's more of what he has come to represent," Davis said. "People have said that he worked very hard to get where he is, and he's very successful. Sure, he's made a lot of money, but that's not success. That's not cool in my eyes." About 40 students have already signed up to attend, or less than one percent of the 5,683 students graduating. But the alternative graduation, which was conceived at Occupy Chapel Hill-Carrboro's general assembly, is all about representing the 99 percent. From City & State's Heard Around Town, May 10, 2012. To read more from City & State [click here](http://www.cityandstateny.com).