More than 100 children in North Carolina died from gun-related injuries in 2022 alone, a 147% increase in child gun deaths since 2017, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
A 2023 study from the department’s injury prevention report shows that gun deathsamong children aged 0 to 17 have increased every year since 2017. That year, 45 children died from firearm-related injuries. By 2022, the number had climbed to over 100. Most of these deaths were homicides, but unintentional shootings and suicides also played a significant role. In fact, most firearm deaths among non-Hispanic Black, Native American, and Hispanic children were homicides, while suicides were more prevalent among non- Hispanic White and Asian children. The 2023 report is the state’s most recent analysis of childhood gun deaths, although such fatalities have continued.
One of the 2024 fatalities was 5-year-old Karter Rosenboro, who was fatally shot by his sibling in a home north of Greenville. The firearm, a 9mm Taurus handgun, had reportedly been left loaded and unsecured, leading to an accidental discharge. In response to incidents like this, Pitt County Schools have begun educating parents and guardians about safe firearm storage. The school system’s website provides links to resources emphasizing theimportance of keeping guns locked, unloaded, and stored separately from ammunition toprevent unauthorized access by children.
Kristen Hunter, public information officer for the Greenville Police Department, says the city has a problem with guns being stolen from unlocked cars, often by juveniles. While the city has not recently experienced any child-related firearm deaths, she said. The Greenville Police Department works closely with East Carolina University Police to educate both the student population and the wider community about firearm safety.
Travis Knight, a 14-year Army veteran and owner of Knight’s Defense, a firearm shop in Sanford near Raleigh offering firearm safety and carry courses, says gun retailers have a role to play in reducing firearm-related incidents involving children. “We practice with dummy rounds and go over the basic use of firearms,” Knight said. “The most important thing I teach my students is how to handle a firearm safely, like always pointing it in a safe direction and keeping their finger off the trigger.”
Although Pitt County does not have the highest rate of child firearm-related deaths in the state, it has seen a significant number of overall firearm deaths. Between 2016 and 2018, the county recorded 55 firearm-related deaths (including adults and children), with a rate of 10.3 per 100,000 residents. By comparison, Robeson County had a firearm death rate of 26.7 per 100,000, with Halifax County close behind at 24.1 per 100,000.
Advocates say one shortcoming is that North Carolina lacks a universal safe storage law. While the state has penalties for allowing minors to access firearms, advocates argue these measures fall short. Efforts to strengthen gun safety laws such as mandating locked storage in homes with children have stalled in the legislative committee or failed to gain enough bipartisan support to pass.
In fall 2023, Carol Hernandez transferred from Sandhills Community College to East Carolina University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in photography. She chose to live on campus, but her experience was not what she had hoped for.
Her dorm, Legacy Residence Hall, was one of the oldest on campus. Hernandez said the bathroom conditions were unsettling and there was no proper air conditioning or elevators in the building. She also struggled to connect with her roommate, which sparked her interest in off-campus housing.
Hernandez came up with a plan. She would find a potential roommate to split rent with and get a job to help cover bills. But after researching her options, she realized that apartments were far too expensive. After struggling to find a job and finding no apartments in her budget, she ultimately decided that leaving ECU was the best choice for her.
“Nothing worked out in my favor while I was over there,” Hernandez said. “I felt like any decision that I made to try to better my situation, it just made my situation worse.”
According to the ECU Off-Campus Student Services website, student off-campus housing prices typically range from around $505 to over $1,200 per month, depending on location, amenities and whether the rent is per room or per unit.
In Greenville, Rentable, a platform for finding and listing rental properties, reports an average cost of $700 per month, Apartments.com lists an average of $909 and Apartment Home Living shows an average of $843. While some listings advertise lower rates around $400 to $500, most student friendly options tend to fall closer to the higher end.
In addition to rent, students are responsible for other living expenses such as electricity, water, gas, internet and phone bills. According to Amber Student, a student housing platform, the average monthly cost for utilities ranges from $155 to $160 for an apartment. While higher end student housing typically include utilities in their overall rent, the more “affordable” options typically do not.
Jaliyah Armstrong, a business administration graduate student, said she spent most of her undergraduate years living on campus. For her final semester, she decided to move off campus to get a taste of what it was like to live in her own apartment.
“I told my parents I wanted to move off campus and my mom said she wouldn’t support it unless it was walking distance from campus,” Armstrong said. “So I started looking and the price was very shocking, apartments near campus were way more expensive than I thought they would be.”
ECU Off-Campus Student Services lists Yugo Greenville Campus Towers as one of the closest housing options to campus, with monthly prices ranging from $719 to $1,109 per person. Other nearby options include The Province Greenville, with rents between $720 and $2,960 per bedroom and Proximity at 10th, where rent starts at around $800 per bedroom.
Armstrong chose to live downtown, a 20 minute walk from campus. She works as an International Enrollment & Engagement Office Assistant at ECU Global Affairs, earning $15 per hour. Her monthly expenses include $853 for rent and approximately $300 for other living costs. This brings her total monthly living expenses to around $1,153.
Armstrong said she initially thought her financial aid would be enough to cover her expenses. However, once those funds ran out, she was left with no choice but to rely on her credit card to pay her bills.
“Every month I would put the rent on my credit card and then just use my job to help pay it down,” Armstrong said. “It’s still not paid off and at this point I don’t know when it’s gonna be paid off.”
Porschea Perry, a sophomore education student at ECU, said she balances three jobs alongside her classes to cover the costs of school and housing. She said she usually gets paid around $1,000 to $1,200 biweekly, depending on her hours.
Perry said her rent is currently $1,019, up from the original $974 when she first signed the lease, and the apartment isn’t near campus. She said while utilities are included in the rent, expenses like gas, insurance, groceries and other necessities quickly add up.
“There are times when it feels like I might sink,” Perry said. “You never know when prices will suddenly rise or change and that makes it even more challenging.”
Kevin Sutton, director of Financial Wellness at ECU, said in an email, the financial situations students face affect many areas of their lives, including academics and mental health.
Sutton said his organization sees students increasingly seeking independence from their parents and family members as they approach graduation.
”We recommend students have direct conversations with their financial support system,” Sutton said.
Kansas Boykin graduated from ECU with a degree in elementary education and has firsthand experience searching for an apartment both during and after graduating. She said not only is off-campus housing super expensive but some have quality issues.
“Instead of making the places where students live nicer,” Boykin said, “those in charge would rather not fix anything and just have students pay high prices for terrible living spaces.”
Boykin said while she wanted to live off-campus, she knew it wasn’t possible. She thought about getting a job, but her internship, which ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., along with classes, took up all of her schedule.
Boykin said even after choosing to stay on campus, she still had the risk of being homeless. She said since her financial aid didn’t cover all of her expenses, she depended on loans to be able to have a place to live.
“I graduated with about $23,000 worth of debt,” Boykin said. “But I think that’s on the lower end because it’s even more for other students, especially if they live off campus.”
The Education Data Initiative, a research group that tracks trends in the U.S. education system, reports that the average student loan debt nationwide is about $38,375 per borrower. In North Carolina, that figure is slightly higher, with the average borrower owing around $38,695.
Betty Curry, an affordable housing advisory commission representative for the town of Carrboro, said in her role, she is focused on promoting housing equity while addressing the deep historical injustices that have shaped the community, especially for Black residents.
Curry said the need for affordable housing in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area far surpasses what has been developed. She said while recent projects are helping, they struggle to keep up with the rapid gentrification and increasing rents.
“College students face major housing challenges like high rent, limited availability and competition with families,” Curry said. “While the Chapel Hill-Carrboro primary focus is on vulnerable residents and families, students are part of this ecosystem and their needs should be part of the affordable housing conversation.”
Curry said she has seen many cases where residents were living paycheck to paycheck and even a minor incident could lead to eviction. She said homelessness in the community is not the result of personal choices but a reflection of the lack of availability of affordable housing.
“For college students or young people trying to find affordable housing, start early and do your homework,” Curry said. “Get involved, attend town council meetings, learn about local housing policies and advocate for more inclusive solutions.”
Many East Carolina University students are upset that DEI courses, or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion courses, are no longer a graduation requirement.
According to the ECU course catalog, 374 courses offered in the Fall 2025 term fall under this category. The Office of the Chancellor announced that the UNC System suspended all general education and major requirements for classes that are believed to meet DEI standards. The announcement came after the Trump administration threatened to revoke the federal funding of universities that did not comply. As a result, ECU determined that these courses would no longer be required for graduation. The new guidelines have had an effect on many academic programs, including the School of Communication.
School of Communication Director Dr. Laura Prividera said that lifting the requirement of DEI courses impacted a “diversity pod” of required courses in the Interpersonal and Organizational Communication concentration, as well as the Public Relations and Media Studies concentrations. “Those courses are still available, but students can choose from a variety of electives,” Prividera explained.
Previously, School of Communication majors were required to take at least one course that fell into the DEI category. These courses included Gender and Communication, Intercultural Communication; and Race, Ethnicity, and Media.
The purpose of DEI courses is to teach students about issues surrounding discrimination and bias, as well as help them gain a better understanding of different cultures, races and ethnicities, as well as gender. The courses expand on inequalities of various minority groups as well as teach students how to effectively communicate with these groups. One goal of the courses is to teach students to become more inclusive in their professional and personal lives.
Although classes that fall under the “DEI” category are no longer required for graduation, some still see the classes as beneficial and do not agree with the UNC System suspension.
Grace Cedeno, a 2024 ECU graduate who studied communication and sociology said she took a number of DEI classes and gained a lot from taking them. “I think it’s a shame students are no longer required to take these courses,” Cedeno said. “I myself benefited by them and felt that they strengthened both my curriculum and post-graduation experience.”
Aside from taking Gender and Communication, a course that was previously part of the required diversity pod for communication majors, Cedeno also took Race, Gender, and Class for her sociology major, another class that falls under the DEI rules. “Through these classes I gained a deeper understanding of the world and people around me,” Cedeno said. “[They] allowed my eyes to open to the experiences of people who might come from different backgrounds than I do.”
Brynn Knight, a senior communication major concentrating in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication, also took Gender and Communication last fall. “I needed another credit and thought it would be interesting and different from other courses I had taken,” Knight said.
Knight said despite the university’s decision to no longer require these courses, students should take them. “I think it’s beneficial for these courses to be required,” Knight said. “I also think in life you are going to have to be aware of topics presented in DEI classes, so I do not understand not wanting to take them.”
These courses are not only important to students, but instructors and professors also find the courses valuable. Dr. Adrienne Muldrow, a communication professor at ECU, teaches Race, Ethnicity, and Media. “I love these courses because they allow students to grow,” Muldrow said. “They can bring their own cultural heritage because we all have culture.”
Muldrow not only enjoys teaching the course, but also hopes that students walk out with knowledge about different cultures to help them in the future. “Eventually, you will probably hit somebody’s culture in a workplace and then not know how to manage that or talk to them,” Muldrow said. “It alleviates the making of mistakes that belittle people, even though you didn’t mean to.”
As of Feb. 6, students who were enrolled in a class that fell under the prior diversity requirement were given the option to drop the class, as it was no longer a graduation requirement. Students who had yet to take a DEI class are no longer required to take a course that falls into this category. “If a student was missing that class, now they do not have to worry about it as long as they have their credits,” Prividera said.
Dr. Eric Shouse, the Faculty Senate representative for the School of Communication, said that though these courses are no longer required, only 21 students across the university dropped what was considered a DEI course following the Feb 6 announcement. “I think the majority of people are happy to take [the classes],” Shouse said.
Though these classes are no longer required for students, they will still be available for students to take. “Overall, those courses are available to communication students–majors and minors. It’s just up to them which of those courses they may choose to take for their profession and career development,” Prividera said.
While the targeted classes were previously a part of a School of Communication diversity pod, they are now a part of a general elective pod. However, if a class doesn’t attract enough students in the absence of the requirement, it is generally not offered.
North Carolina has seen an alarming increase in sexually transmitted infections over the past decade, particularly among those ages 15 to 24 in rural areas posing the biggest risk. In 2023 alone, the state reported over 26,000 cases of gonorrhea, with those disproportionately occurring in rural areas, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
A combination of limited healthcare access, inadequate transportation, and lack of comprehensive sex education contributes to this public health crisis. Many rural areas lack nearby clinics, and young people often struggle with the cost and management in seeking care. As a result, infections frequently go undiagnosed and untreated, increasing the risk of long-term complications and further transmissions, according to the Health and Human Services department.
Dr. Kristina Simeonsson, a public health professor at East Carolina University and pediatrician, connects rising STI rates to modern hookup culture and the stigma surrounding sexual health. “The use of dating apps has given more people access to partners they didn’t have before,” she explains. She adds that because young adults engage in risky behaviors and conversations surrounding sex are often stigmatized, this often leads to young people avoiding seeking care, even when something is wrong.
Image from CDC about Sexually Transmitted Infections
The problem is compounded by the fact that many STIs are asymptomatic. “Most STIs are spread when people don’t have symptoms and assume they’re in the clear,” says Brian Cavanaugh, a sexual health professor at East Carolina University. “That’s why regular screening is so important, especially in communities where access to healthcare is already limited.”
Cultural barriers and medical mistrust further isolate young people from essential resources. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that young people of color in rural areas often face providers who lack cultural competence or awareness of their specific needs.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has called for more resources in underserved areas, while public health advocates continue to push for better education, outreach and culturally competent care.
As rates continue to rise, experts say addressing the gaps in care and communication could help reduce infections and protect long-term health outcomes, especially for young people in rural communities who remain the most at risk.
On a calm Saturday afternoon inside HK Tattoo in Greenville, a client prepared to get her dream tattoo: a “Bulbasaur” from the beloved Pokémon franchise. The soft hum of the tattoo gun filled the air as it glided across the client’s forearm, bringing a cherished part of their childhood to life. In just an hour or two, what had once been an image on paper became permanent art on skin. The studio transformed into a quiet space of trust, creativity and a little pain, but for most customers it was all worth it to see the final result.
Moth tattooing a rib piece
The artist behind the needle: Moth.Doodlez, a Greenville tattoo artist known for their colorful, anime-inspired and illustrative style. Their journey into tattooing began at East Carolina University’s College of Business. “Although my degree is in business, my entire life has been a pursuit of art,” said Moth, who goes by Moth.Doodlez and uses she/they pronouns and declined to give a last name. From glassblowing and painting to ceramics and sewing, they explored every form of creative expression they could find.
“What led me to tattooing specifically is my background as a cosplayer,” they add, referred to as the act of dressing up as a character from a work of fiction. Today this cosplayer with a degree in entrepreneurship has become one of five go-to artists at Harm the Karma Tattoo, bringing beloved characters from shows like “Pokémon” and “Gravity Falls” to life?
The entrance of Harm the Karma in Downtown Greenville
Moth works tirelessly to bring their clients’ vision to life. They ask about inspiration, preferences, and limitations, adjusting designs based on what can realistically be done within a given timeframe. “I go through a checklist: no tangent lines, proper color theory, and at least one-third of the design has black ink or shadows,” they explain.
Moth tattooing the side of a customer’s head
Some tattoos stand out more than others. “My most memorable ones were the circle I gave my future mother-in-law, and a client who’s been with me since the beginning,” they say. “I tattooed a perfect circle on her ribs, which is notoriously difficult, and I still get invited to family functions!” they said, laughing. “As for the other client, I was only two months into tattooing when she first came to me. I’ve done over a dozen pieces for her since, and her joy and excitement make me incredibly happy. She still chooses me to be her artist.”
Beyond the art, Moth has made it clear that their studio is a safe and welcoming space for all. “Around the time of Trump’s election, many of my queer friends were facing physical and verbal assault from emboldened voters,” they say. As someone who identifies as queer, Moth made a choice: her space would be different. “I refuse to tattoo anyone who expresses homophobia, sexism, xenophobia or transphobia,” they say. “At the very least, I knew I could create an LGBTQIA+ safe space to let others in town know they’re not alone.”
Moth’s impact isn’t just felt through her clients; it resonates in the tattoo community itself. “They take art seriously, but doesn’t take themselves too seriously,” says Stephanie, who declined to give a last name who goes by batbitepiercings on Instagram, a body piercer who works alongside Moth at HK Tattoo. “From coming in groggy in the morning to being the energy unicorn of the shop, there never seems to be a dull moment when she’s here.” She adds that Moth does a great job at interacting with other artist at the shop. “Her ability to reach out to other tattooers and book guest spots all over is incredible. I’m an introvert, so seeing her talk to people like it’s nothing, it’s awesome.”
In a small city like Greenville, where creativity can sometimes feel limited, Moth finds a way to shine. They share some of their dream projects that are high on their tattoo wish list: “I would love to do a large back piece featuring the legendary ‘Johto Pokémon Ho-oh’ and ‘Lugia’ in a traditional Japanese style, or a Wonderland or deep-sea girl ‘Hatsune Miku’ half sleeve.” From colorful anime characters to intricate designs, Moth.Doodlez’s tattoos are works of art.
Many ECU students living in off-campus houses were shocked when they opened their February utility bills, which were substantially higher than they had expected.
The bills came from the Greenville Utilities Commission, which is responsible for providing the City of Greenville and 75% of Pitt County residents with electric, water, sewer and natural gas services. Students at East Carolina University started to raise concerns when they noticed their February utility bill was noticeably higher than their previous month’s bill. Many students live in homes in a neighborhood located north of campus called “The Grid.”
Many students who have rented the same homes for the past two years said they noticed their gas usage nearly doubled in February when compared to February 2024. Water, electric and sewer usage all remained relatively the same. They knew this because Greenville Utilities Commission provides customers with an assortment of data that includes all previous billing statements and usage.
Jordan Reid, an ECU student, provided a summary of her utility statements since moving in August 2023 to her Fifth Street house. In February 2025, her gas usage had showed a 72% increase when compared to February 2024. While her home includes six residents, each had to pay about $30 more that month. A nearby ECU student, Hailey Wilkes, said she found herself paying about $50 more that month, as her utility bill is shared among fewer roommates.
As the weather differs, students understand that each month’s bill will fluctuate, and no billing statement will be the exact same as another. Yet, many students say none have been as dramatic as their February 2025 charge. In the winter, gas usage is always greater than other months due to increased use of heating systems.
Concerned about the increase, Reid asked GUC to ensure her home was billed correctly. A GUC customer service representative told her that the bill was correct, “and gas was working overtime everywhere because of the recent snow.” On Jan. 22, Greenville got 2.7 inches of snow, according to WITN News. This was the only snow during the February billing period.
GUC Communications Manager Steve Hawley said students’ bills went up because of the colder temperatures. The average temperature for this year’s February billing statement was 10 degrees colder than last year’s, Hawley said, adding, “the colder it is outside, the harder heating systems have to work.”
According to the minutes of the Jan. 16 GUC Board of Commissioners meeting, commissioners voted to extend GUC’s gas supply contract and re-calculate the rates. Hawley confirms that “rates will not go up because of this contract,” which was “extended for another 6 years.”
Greenville ranked fifth in reported car crashes among all North Carolina cities with populations topping 10,000 in the two most recent years statistics are available.
The only cities that outranked Greenville were Greensboro, Lumberton, Charlotte and Asheville, according to crash data from the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles.
Kristen Hunter, public information officer for the Greenville Police Department, said the city’s rapid population growth is one factor in its number of car accidents, but the city’s engineering division has been part of a task force to try to drive those numbers down.
In 2023, the North Carolina DMV reported 12,938 car crashes, 32 of them fatal, and 3,282 non-fatal injury crashes. In that same year, drivers experienced 3,309 car crashes in Greenville. Of that number, 10 were fatal, while over 1,000 resulted in injuries.
That same year, 41 pedestrian accidents happened in Greenville, with five resulting in fatalities. In Winterville, the next town over, only three pedestrian accidents and one fatality were reported that year.
Hunter said that, on average, Greenville Police respond to about 400 accidents a month. Areas in Greenville that are common for accidents are on Greenville Boulevard. The intersection of Arlington Boulevard and Fire Tower Road is the highest location for crashes in Greenville.
Five-year comparison for pedestrian crashes in Greenville. Information provided by Kristen Hunter.
As for pedestrians, most pedestrian accidents happen near the East Carolina University campus on 10th Street, Hunter said. Improvements have been made in recent years with the addition of crosswalk lights and pedestrian signals, but “pedestrians have to use those in order for them to be effective,” Hunter said, adding that pedestrians should cross streets only on crosswalks and use the signals. Pedestrians should also make eye contact with drivers before crossing the road to ensure safety.
A student crossing the crosswalk on East 10th Street outside of Umstead Residence Hall.
Chapel Hill, home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, experienced far fewer pedestrian accidents than Greenville, even though it is also a college town and has far more students. In 2023, according to data from the North Carolina DMV, Chapel Hill had 23 pedestrian crashes. Of those 23, all resulted in injury, and one resulted in death. According to data from the North Carolina 2023 Traffic Crash Facts, Chapel Hill had a total of 3,845 crashes.
East Carolina University student political activists evaluate the Democratic Party’s future in Pitt County as an increasing number of voters choose to register as unaffiliated.
Jay Lampa, a political science major at ECU, said he wasn’t surprised by the recent presidential election results. He said the democrats could have done more to address issues like workers’ rights, environmental justice and Palestine.
Lampa said the party’s handling of the election gave the republicans momentum, explaining that many believed Joe Biden should have dropped out sooner. He said the culture within the party’s national administration also played a role in causing division that contributed to their loss.
“But it’s not so much what they did wrong this election,” Lampa said. “As it is about what their opposition did right.”
During last year’s election, while North Carolina turned red, Pitt County itself was blue. According to the NC State Board of Elections, Democratic candidate Kamala D. Harris won Pitt County with 52.33% of the vote, totaling 45,595 votes, while Republican candidate Donald J. Trump received 40,403 votes.
Lampa said one of the reasons why Pitt County remained blue was because of organizations in the area such as the North of the River Association, the Coalition Against Racism, NAACP and Democracy NC. He said these organizations have encouraged greater involvement in last year’s elections.
Another factor in the democrats’ win in Pitt County is the strong reputation of the NC Democratic Party, said Thomas Remington, president of College Democrats at ECU.
Remington said the state party shows up everywhere, consistently engages with every county and town. He said they actively reached out to people who not only agreed with the party but also with those who don’t identify with it.
“Anything tied to Washington, DC is automatically more unpopular,” Remington said. “There’s a lot of work to be done locally and statewide so that we don’t rely on the image of the national party.”
Although democratic candidates won Pitt County in 2024, the number of voters registered with the party has steadily declined.
According to NC voter registration statistics for Pitt County, the number of registered democrats dropped from 53,265 in 2020 to 48,726 in 2024. However, compared to other parties, democrats still have the highest number of registered voters, with a decline of less than 1% from 2021 to 2024.
In contrast, republican registrations increased from 29,540 in 2021 to 32,020 in 2024. Meanwhile, the unaffiliated party experienced the largest growth, rising by 31% from 35,548 in 2021 to 46,762 in 2024.
“I think it’s because the Democrats have lost any semblance of a cohesive and coherent message,” Rob Yates, communications director for the Libertarian Party of North Carolina, said.
Yates said people in eastern North Carolina value tradition, prioritizing family and self defense. He said democrats openly seek to strip away the right to self defense, while republicans talk a big game but fail to take meaningful action to protect the second amendment rights.
“Democrats are addicted to this identity politics,” Yates said. “And the republicans make a much bigger deal out of it than it’s needed.”
Yates said if republicans or democrats are dissatisfied with their party’s principles, they should join the Libertarian Party. He explained that when either party wins, they use their power to impose their values and policies, often leaving many people unhappy.
In contrast, the Libertarian Party provides an opportunity to test ideas, supports individual freedoms and allows people to live according to their own choices, Yates said.
“I think you’re gonna see unaffiliated as the biggest group in North Carolina now,” Yates said. “And the Libertarian Party in North Carolina had a really good year last year.”
Dylan Knight, a former co-chair of the Young Democratic Socialists at ECU, said he personally doesn’t label himself as a democrat on his registration and that many liberals and progressives are protesting the Democratic Party by registering under other affiliations.
Knight said lately democrats seem to overlook their own power and need to take a more proactive stance in blocking some of the republicans’ more dangerous policies.
“A lot of the inner party apparatus refused to sort of accept the economic populist message and I think that’s a failing,” Knight said.
According to Gallup data released in February 2025 on partisans’ preferences for their parties’ ideological direction, shows that a plurality of democrats now want their party to become more moderate, rising from 34% to 45%, while those who prefer a more liberal stance decreased from 34% to 29%.
Gallup explains that the party has grown more ideologically divided. Therefore, to maintain its hold on Pitt County, the party might need to adapt to the evolving political landscape and shifting ideologies of the region, rather than ignoring them.
Students are still coming to terms with the loss of diversity, equity and inclusion policies at universities and major companies since President Trump was elected on a pledge to remove all DEI initiatives.
DEI policies were introduced to combat discriminatory practices by encouraging equal opportunities and diverse environments. In 2020, following widespread racial protests, these initiatives were embraced by the likes of Meta (formerly Facebook), McDonald’s and Target, among many other companies.
Thomas Remington, president of the College Democrats at East Carolina University, said one of the first executive orders signed by Trump was focused on reversing DEI initiatives and “woke policies.”
“A couple major companies like Meta,” Remington said, “in accordance with the president’s executive orders and in the simplest terms essentially removed their DEI policies.”
Remington said the trend of different companies eliminating DEI programs address a problem that doesn’t actually exist. He said these programs don’t cause harm and instead help foster inclusivity.
For ECU, this shift is nothing new. While faculty opposed the removal of DEI, they were effectively compelled to make the change by the UNC System Board of Governors, which, in 2024, voted to eliminate DEI offices and funding at all state universities.
“The people who benefit from DEI most of the time don’t even know it’s there,” Remington said. “and for those who don’t use the resources, it doesn’t affect them at all.”
Kelly Diep, social media manager for the Asian Students Association, said the criticism of DEI stems from the belief that the programs are unfair and contributing to greater division among people.
Diep said eliminating or even scaling back DEI programs could cause harm to minority students by limiting their chances to secure jobs or even just to access opportunities.
“It’s important to recognize that DEI programs do not divide,” Diep said. But they help “those who are systematically and historically underrepresented.”
Erica Hoyer, a rehabilitation counselor at Salem Counseling, said while discussions about DEI often center on race and ethnicity, the concept extends far beyond that. It also encompasses individuals with disabilities, addiction, mental health disorders and more.
Hoyer said many of her clients depend on essential support to secure jobs, access necessary accommodations and to navigate their daily lives. She said removing DEI initiatives could severely impact their ability to achieve these goals and further marginalize them.
“It kind of removes a lot of accessibility needed for people to function in society,” Hoyer said, “since it’s cutting out entire populations because of things that people can’t control.”
Hoyer said during her time teaching undergraduates, she had students who required accommodations, and working with them was essential for their success.
Removing DEI welcomes more hate and discrimination, Hoyer said. A crucial aspect of DEI is that it gives people access to important programs and removing them can be extremely detrimental.
“The programs shouldn’t be a hindrance or something that’s removed just because people need something that’s different from others,” Hoyer said.
Unfurls contacted ECU’s Dr. Jesse R. Peel LGBTQ Center and the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center but was told to reach out to the university’s news services for comment.
Mikael Adamson, a merchandising major at ECU, said organizations previously supported by DEI are likely hesitant to speak out due to the fear that their programs could be eliminated or face reduced funding.
“People could speak with their money,” Adamson said, “because it is often how you bring a company or corporation to its knees.”
Joala Downey, a health and wellness entrepreneur in Greensboro, said one way to address these changes is by supporting the local community.
Downey said farmers’ markets and locally owned businesses often prioritize the needs of the people they serve, focusing on the community rather than on race, class or politics.
“With these university programs being rolled back,” Downey said. “’I’m definitely going to make sure that my business and my brand are with the people affected by this.”
Downey said although the DEI removal and changes can’t be controlled, people should focus on their commonalities and prioritize supporting one another.
