Following this years presidential election results, divisions have risen thorough the country. Locally, at Frostburg State University, students have expressed disbelief and support of the results of this year’s election. A day after the results students took to Twitter to voice their dismay with the president’s lack of action taken towards the vandalism around campus.
As more and more “Trump 2016” writing showed up around campus, students were disappointed in the delayed actions taken by the campus authorities to remove the vandalism. Comparisons were made to the prompt removal of the Black Lives Matter display, and soon the hashtag “Does Frostburg Care” was trending on Twitter amongst upset college students.
Craig Hampton, the executive vice president of Black Student Alliance (BSA) was in attendance when BSA held the Black Lives Matter (BLM) meeting on Nov 14th, 2016 at 7pm in CCIT, shed light on the meeting objective, the speaker and the issues discussed in the meeting. The speaker was Rasheed Ali Cromwell, he spoke on the three levels of racism; he broke them down into individual racism, institutional racism and structural racism. When asked how did you feel about the BLM meeting, his response was "great, there was a large turnout, I was especially surprised to see how many members of administration came out, the President of the University was there and the fraternity RLO." Cromwell's objective for this meeting was to explain the confusion about the BLM movement and the organization—he wanted to shed light on the difference between protests and riots. Students were allowed to make statements and ask questions; a lot of people wanted to address the Fatboy's racism topic and how they would kick out black students even if they were paying customers. These frustrations and concerns brought on the idea of a protest against Fatboy's on December 3rd, 2016 lead by the fraternity against prejudice. In light of the election there were no talks of Trump becoming president—but there were questions addressed to President Ronald Nowacyzk about why the TRUMP writing wasn't as quickly taken care of as the Black Lives Matter writing around campus was power washed off.
As things escalated with washing chalk off of buildings more and more people were coming out to support the efforts of Jay and other students. Student reporter Melani Finney had a chance to interview Kevin Akindana who was there for support as a representative of BSA.
Melani: I wanted to ask what that like was for you to see something like that.
Kevin: “It’s disappointing the campus and country for that matter has decayed this badly. The fact that the school is quick to remove positive spray immediately but can leave the walls of Compton to say Trump for a couple of days just shows haw backwards things are.”
Melani: Did you say anything to the guys that were washing the words away? Did they say anything to you?
Kevin: “Not really. They didn’t look too inviting”
Melani: I can imagine. Were you one of the people that BLM near echo circle?
Kevin: “No. I didn’t write anything, I was just there to be a representative of BSA”
Melani: Okay, Thanks Kevin.
While many saw this win as foreboding of bad times to come, College Republican vice president Casimir Wager sees a different future. During the final College Republican’s Club meeting of the semester, members were chanting Trump’s name in celebration of his win. “As time has progressed democracy is looking weaker and weaker,” Wagner continued, “ Since the proliferation of the Internet, there’s been a lot of people who simply will not excepts the results of an election.” Wagner isn’t wrong, hashtags with the statement “not my president” have sprouted, shirts have been made denouncing Trump’s win, and Jill Stein has been raising money for recounts in states Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. On the sidewalk vandalism that has sprouted Wagner commented, “I think that everybody should have free speech everybody should be able to express themselves whether or not they like to write with chalk “Black lives Matter” or “Trump” or whatever you’d like to write so long as you’re not inciting people to violence.” The concept of protesting the opponents win in a presidential election is not new; however, the circumstances that surround this election are extremely unconventional. According to the New York Times Hillary won the popular vote by over 2 million surpassing popular vote wins but presidential losses of Al Gore, John F Kennedy, and Richard Nixon. It’s safe to say a majority of people are upset with the loss reflecting in the protests across the nation that are digging deep at the divides that already shaped our nation. Wager concluded his reflection stating, “If we ever intend to move beyond fighting each other we’re going to have to talk to each other we’re never going to be able to get past all the differences that are dividing our nation.”
As things are uneasy around the nation, people are finding ways to try and cope with things. However, on college campuses things are becoming too much for people to handle. College campuses around the nation are seeing a variety of responses to heightened emotions post election.
Frostburg State University student, Jay Gourdin was walking through echo circle and saw a lot of writing saying things like “F*ck your safe space” and “Build a wall”. It made her uncomfortable so she went to her room to get stuff to wash the chalk away. She said that she felt like the people who wrote this terrible stuff wanted a response, therefore she wrote words to respond. “I wasn’t going to write stuff that was supporting Hilary, cause I’m not sure if she would’ve done a better job as President”. She said So Jay wrote quotes such as “We Shall Overcome”, “Love is Louder”, and “You Matter” around the echo circle, and under that she wrote BLM. “I feel like Trump is for hate so I wanted to spread love”.
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| J. Gourdin's paintings in echo circle |
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| J. Gourdin's paintings in echo circle |
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| J. Gourdin's paintings in echo circle |
Jay expressed how the campus just seemed quiet and dark the day after elections and that she just wanted to shed some light on everyone. So for her to see that her words of positivity were washed away really made her feel like the exact opposite thing was happening. After Jay finished she said that Tom Bowling approached her and said that the words she was writing were spreading positivity and that he would talk to the President about removing the negative words around campus. “He started to help me clean up all the words about Trump, and more people started to show up and help out. We cleaned up between the Performing Arts Center and Dunkle. I went to grab lunch in Lane and came back to see that the guys were washing the paint off.”
The 2016 presidential election has brought out high tensions among those on college campuses. The students among the college campuses today spread themselves across all political platforms. You would not talk to 100 students and get the same political identification. With the tension that has come about there have also been protests that have begun to show that students are not okay with President Elect Donald Trump. At Towson University, a walkout was staged on November 14th only days after the election. This protest was led by faculty members to address that they are not okay with the discrimination that is being pushed by the president elect. This seems to be the case across the country on all campuses. Here on our home campus of Frostburg State University, a local pizzeria, Fatboy's Pizza Shack, is accused of racist comments towards African American students, as well as not serving and kicking out a transgender student. A Frostburg State fraternity, Pi Lambda Phi is hosting a forum on December 10 at 12 pm to discuss why this behavior is not okay, and it needs to be stopped before president elect Donald Trump takes office. The brothers of Pi Lambda Phi have made it their personal mission to eliminate hate across the Frostburg State University Campus as that is one of the things the fraternity stands strongly for.
This protest started out as a boycott to the local pizzeria for disrespecting two of the brothers, but as things escalated when Donald Trump was elected to be our next president the brothers of Pi Lambda Phi decided to really raise awareness to eliminate hate as they felt that Donald Trump stood for that and was encouraging it. All of the brothers started the boycott on their own when the entire fraternity stopped eating from there. After speaking to Pi Lambda Phi brother James Cousler, "The word has just spread from there" said Cousler, "Our president has a meeting on Tuesday December 6 with the Fatboy's owner, and the university president. The owner of Fatboy's is really concerned about what the students could potentially do to his business. So, because of this meeting we have postponed any formal protest to just continue with the boycott our [fraternity] is doing. After the meeting, if nothing is resolved then we will have our forum and continue with our plan to protest."
According to Cousler, Pi Lambda Phi was the original source of the boycott, but since word has gotten out about what is happening it has become something "bigger than we are." Upon several other interviews about this protest there was confusion on what the protest was for, but Cousler was able to clear that up, "With so many groups being involved it's hard to say that the protest is only for one thing. It is really just to eliminate hate around the town. It could be for the Black Lives Matter movement, or LGBTG rights, if you want to pin it to one thing, but we just want to see everyone treated the correct way."
The university has made the students aware of their efforts to keep things calm and civil after an upsetting election. President Dr. Nowacyzk even sent out an email the day after the election stating as follows:
To the Campus Community,
Yesterday was an emotional day for all in the United States as we went to the polls to elect our next president. There is no question that this most recent political season has revealed some of the deep political and cultural divides that exist within our country. One of the characteristics of educated persons is that they do not fear differences, but rather are curious about such differences; they seek to understand the perspectives of others. Frostburg State is a community of caring individuals committed to making this world a better place.
In response to the election results, graffiti has started showing up on campus. This graffiti is creating anger and feelings of intimidation, regardless of whether that was its intent. We appreciate the efforts that many of our students have made to remove the graffiti, and we recognize efforts to replace them with more positive messages. However, we will continue to remove all graffiti so that we are not placed in the position of judging the content of any of these messages. We respect everyone’s right to free speech, but please do not let our beautiful campus become that canvas.
The diverse community that we have created here will continue. People will always disagree with one another, and we will disagree over important, crucial, life-changing things. We must not let our disagreements feed anger and fear, nor should we tolerate those who would stoke division rather than seek understanding. We are all committed to making certain that everyone on our campus, regardless of their race, religion, class, sexual orientation, or political beliefs feels both welcome and safe. None of us should view any member of this community as “the other.”
I offer the words of our political leaders for your reflection:
President Obama: “Everybody is sad when their side loses an election, but the day after we have to remember that we're actually all on one team. This is an intramural scrimmage. We're not Democrats first. We're not Republicans first. We are Americans first. We're patriots first.
“We all want what's best for this country. That's what I heard in Mr. Trump's remarks last night. That's what I heard when I spoke to him directly. And I was heartened by that. That's what the country needs – a sense of unity, a sense of inclusion, a respect for our institutions, our way of life, rule of law, and respect for each other.”
Donald Trump: “Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division. Have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.
“It is time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be President for all of Americans, and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past … I'm reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.
“… We will seek common ground, not hostility; partnership, not conflict.”
Hillary Clinton: “I count my blessings every single day that I am an American, and I still believe, as deeply as I ever have, that if we stand together and work together with respect for our differences, strengthen our convictions, and love for this nation, our best days are still ahead of us.
“Because, you know, I believe we are stronger together and we will go forward together.”
I leave you with the words of wisdom from Senator J. William Fulbright:
“Understanding between the peoples on this planet is only possible when differences of culture and outlook are respected and appreciated rather than feared and condemned, when the common bond of human dignity is recognized as the essential bond for a peaceful world.”
We are stronger together, and we are wiser when we listen.
Sincerely,
Ron Nowaczyk
Faculty, staff, administration and students all want to see a united campus as efforts will continue through the end of the fall 2016 semester into the spring 2017 semester.
For specific details on the BSA event held on November 14, 2016 please reference the following:
http://newdayfrostburg.blogspot.com/2016/12/black-lives-matter-forum-by-bsa.html
For specific details on the BSA event held on November 14, 2016 please reference the following:
http://newdayfrostburg.blogspot.com/2016/12/black-lives-matter-forum-by-bsa.html
Written by: Moriah O'Neal, Kendra Stephenson, Nicole Leighty, and Melani Finney
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