The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill community filled up the walkways and grass of the campus as people rally in support—and some who were not—of a professor accused of being affiliated with an anti-fascist organization.
Dr. Dwayne Dixon, an outspoken professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, was placed on administrative leave Monday following reports of concern about his alleged advocacy for politically motivated violence.
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The rally remained peaceful throughout, as speakers from several organizations made statements to a crowd of dozens on UNC's campus near the South Building, which is currently under construction.
The crowd was mostly turned toward the South Building where small signs saying "Reinstate Dixon" and "UNC, Stop Taking Orders From Fascists" were sitting on the steps.
People began filing in front of the South Building right at 12:30 p.m. Some people are wearing masks and holding up signs and flags.
WRAL's Shaun Gallagher was at the scene of the rally where he talked to a student who is a part of the local Turning Point USA chapter, another UNC professor who is friends with Dixon and the president of the UNC chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).
Jack D'Entremont is a student at UNC who is also a member of the UNC GOP and of the local Turning Point chapter. He says that there is no room in our country and UNC's campus for political violence of any kind.
"I'm 100% okay with this demonstration here because I'm a free speech advocate, and I think that even if it's not something I agree with, I think everyone has a right to fight for what they believe in," D'Entremont said. "But you fight with words, you don't fight with calls to violence or actual violence, and I think there's a lot of room for education here for everyone involved."
He said that freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.
"The average student [at UNC] are probably going to be in support or not upset by what happened to Kirk and it's awful," D'Entremont said. "Regardless of his beliefs, you shouldn't be killed for your beliefs, especially 'cause actions were nothing but good, all he did was talk to people. If you're glorying it, people have a right to be upset by that.
D'Entremont added that there are posts and comments Dixon made calling for violence. WRAL is working to confirm the validity of the posts and where students accessed them.
A member of TransparUNCy, a group that focuses on institutional governance and affairs at UNC, tells WRAL she believes that students have not received a complete message as to why Dixon was put on leave.
She added that people currently don't have trust in the administration "to have an objective and unbiased assessment," because of the university's handling of protests regarding the Israel-Hamas war.
"We don't live in a current state where there is no political violence," She said. "We exist in an area where we are profiting off of, like, the blood, sweat and tears of people. Our tax dollars are going toward a genocide. That is not a situation where there is no political violence, so any reaction to that must be considered of the fact that violence is happening right now."
Why a professor is under fire by his university
Several websites and other reports tie Dixon to a now-defunct anti-fascist group called Redneck Revolt. Founded in 2016, the organization claims to be a national network of community defense projects from a broad spread of political, religious and cultural backgrounds.
In states where it is legal to practice armed community defense, some branches choose to become "John Brown Gun Clubs," which train their members in defense and mutual aid.
When visiting the Redneck Revolt website, a pop-up states that the organization officially disbanded in 2019, and there have been no active chapters since.
Dixon’s supporters—a mix between students, faculty and community members—rallied against the university’s decision to do so. According to a statement from the AAUP at Chapel Hill, his dismissal goes against his First Amendment rights to free speech and free association.
Triangle Radical Events, the group organizing Wednesday's rally, said Dixon was put on leave because of pressure from the right-wing Christian nationalist group Turning Point USA, which was founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Last week on the social media platform X, Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet called for Dixon's firing.
"I posted this flyer our team spotted at Georgetown, and now we find out professors at 'elite' schools are members of this group and its offshoots," Kolvet wrote in the post. "This professor must be immediately fired and the group/network investigated."
The organization tied to the flyer reflects the same "John Brown Gun Clubs" name as the one used by Redneck Revolt for their armed community defense classes. The flyer includes a phrase the FBI says Kirk's alleged killer inscribed on an unfired bullet casing.
The AAUP claimed that the university is basing the reports of concern about his alleged advocacy on “one unverified social media post and one Fox News story.”
The AAUP statement continued, “Right-wing activists are attacking Dixon for prior membership in a group that has been inactive since 2019 … Fox News picked up the story on Sept. 27, 2025, without verifying the existence of the flyers, and apparently this was enough for UNC’s administration to remove a professor from the classroom in the middle of the semester and bar him from campus in a manner that is wholly inconsistent with University policies.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order instructing federal agencies to "investigate, disrupt and dismantle" any illegal operations linked to Antifa.
The university stated the length of Dixon's leave has not been determined, as it will depend on the time needed to assess the allegations and investigate, if needed.