Pro-Trump sidewalk chalk messages have led to student protests, calling the campus police, and labeling such messages a “racist act.” Now, a student newspaper editorial at Marshall University says “Campus chalkings blur the line of free speech and hate speech.”
The specific message at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, read “Trump 2016 #BuildTheWall.”
The editorial notes that Physical Plant employees removed the chalk message, but they “however, could not wash away the aftertaste left behind the situation.”
The “aftertaste” of what the piece sees as leaning toward “hate speech” reflected a trend of students participating in #TheChalkening contest, which was about standing up against political correctness and for free speech. The editorial didn’t name the trend, but noted “Dan Scavino, social media director of the Trump campaign, posted a photo of a pro-Trump hashtag on the side of a Huntington student rental house…”
Old Row, the group behind #TheChalkening, mentioned during a Wednesday podcast that there have been 106 confirmed campus participants, with about 50 unconfirmed.
LOVE IT MARSHALL UNIVERSITY!
THANK YOU! #TheChalkening #MakeAmericaGreatAgain #Trump2016 #TrumpTrain??? pic.twitter.com/WoCBDF4Fv7— Dan Scavino (@DanScavino) April 2, 2016
Marshall University president Jerry Gilbert acknowledged this in part of his statement on the incident (emphasis is original):
Furthermore, we endorse the First Amendment rights of our students, faculty and staff to express themselves in oral and written word, including chalking on our sidewalks…
The editorial also reflects a concern for international students, “specifically groups of students of various religions and ethnicities Trump has threatened to deport, monitor or remove if he’s elected into the Oval Office.” The editorial fails to mention that Trump has not sought to deport international students based on their ethnicity, but if they were in the country illegally.
