Apr 27, 2015 11:15 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

The Chapel Hill shooting of three Muslim college students is causing racial tension on the campus.

According to the Huffington Post, students at the University of North Carolina (UNC) started the Twitter hashtag "#NotSafeUNC" for students to share instances of unfair or undue profiling and discrimination. This following a controversial address David Horowitz gave on the Chapel Hill campus.

A conservative writer invited to speak at UNC by the school's College Republicans, Horowitz said the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and Students for Justice in Palestine (JSP) have affiliations to terrorism groups, the Daily Tar Heel reported.

The student groups, as well as the UNC student body president, Houston Summers, spoke out against Horowitz's claim. The speech also earned the writer and the College Republicans criticism for its timing. Just two months ago, UNC dentistry students Deah Barakat, 23, and Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, were shot and killed alongside NC State student Razan Abu-Salha, 19, as part of a possible hate crime.

Police are still trying to determine if the shooter, Craig Stephen Hicks, shot his victims out of hate or because of a dispute over a parking spot.

"In no way did the UNC College Republicans intend to cause feelings of fear for any student," the College Republicans said in a statement that also listed five members who have been convicted on charges relating to terrorism. "Being uncomfortable with something that's said does not equate with being unsafe, and we intended to do nothing more than cause academic discomfort by inviting David Horowitz to UNC."

"Let it be published, that UNC Muslim Students Association (UNC MSA) is not a terrorist group, nor is it affiliated with or funded by any terrorist groups," the MSA said in a statement. "It is absurd that we even need to make this statement."

"Pray's call for MSA and SJP to be 'reformed' in light of Horowitz's unsubstantiated assertions is paternalistic and groundless," the SJP said in its own.

Regardless of validity, Horowitz's speech was bound to do the school's Muslim student population harm one way or another.

"[Controversial speakers] create a hostile learning environment for Muslim and Arab-American students, and that's what they're designed to do," Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the HP. "They're designed to demonize Muslim and Arab students."

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