The College Fix

OPINION: Anti-Trump students broke university rules and painted over The Rock. We repainted it to show our support for free speech and the president

In celebration of President Donald Trump’s victory, a group (not affiliated with the College Republicans) painted Northwestern University’s “Rock” with “Cats for Trump,” “USA,” and “MAGA” last Friday evening. Despite university rules being clear about painting The Rock, anti-Trump students defaced it with vulgarity and their own phrases.

The pro-Trump painting came at the perfect time for Northwestern’s Parents and Family Weekend, so students and parents alike were able to see the MAGA-painted Rock. Many parents expressed disapproval, though, and offered those around the Rock help covering it up.

Later, one member shared in our College Republicans group chat that the Rock had been defaced. Blue paint was used to cover any visible support of Trump. “Cats for Democracy” was painted over “Cats for Trump.” Whoever painted the Rock also tried to cover up “USA.” The person also put a sign in front saying “F*** Trump” in bold lettering.

As I told the student newspaper, “I think it being painted over so soon… is a gross depiction of the lack of patriotism among those that do not like Trump. It is especially disheartening to see that they tried to cover up ‘USA.’”

The College Republicans group that I lead was happy to help fight back.

Other signs posted in front of the Rock indicate that whoever is behind the defacing of the pro-Trump painting of the Rock planned to return the next morning to repaint the Rock entirely. He or she wrote “To the tours on campus, THIS IS NOT WHO WE ARE.”

Whoever did this not only was disrespectful, but he or she also showed a blatant disregard for university policy surrounding painting the Rock. The Rock is supposed to be a symbol of free speech.

Any painting is supposed to remain for 24 hours before the next group can repaint it, and the group to repaint is next is supposed to camp out at the Rock for 24 hours before doing so. The person did not do either.

My group, the College Republicans, decided to repaint “MAGA” on the Rock to fight back and show that freedom of speech does exist for right-leaning voices. We followed the rules and camped out before painting it red with white “MAGA” lettering on Monday night.

After only about half an hour, we started to attract a crowd. They all expressed their disapproval at our message, calling it hate speech and “rage bait.” They condemned the “MAGA” message and said that if we truly believed in freedom of speech, we would put a more unifying message.

After arguing for a while, a large group against one, one member of the College Republicans came to a compromise with them; we agreed to swap out our “MAGA” message to “NUCR for Unity.” I think this should have been a positive step towards a marketplace of ideas on campus.

Even after that decision, though, we still faced major backlash for even painting The Rock to begin with. We were ambushed with invasive and targeted questions, making it clear that they weren’t truly willing to have a conversation.

They laughed when we tried to reason with them, and they also started name calling and using ad hominem attacks. At that point, it was probably around 40 of them against less than three of us, but we held our own.

The dispute hit a peak when one person from the crowd used our red paint to cover the “NUCR for” message, leaving only “Unity.”

Dedicated to fighting for freedom of speech, I spray painted “MAGA” in the space that was now blank. Their covering up of part of our message was a blatant show of intolerance from the left over anything the right does at this school. I wasn’t going to let this stand.

Afterward, in a rather hypocritical manner, they called me hateful, vengeful, and reactionary for painting “MAGA” on The Rock as soon as it was defaced.

This emphasized the double standard here: apparently, you can only paint The Rock if you agree with their leftist ideas. They cheered when our design was defaced, yet they criticized me when I fixed it.

Arguably, it was hateful when someone from their crowd removed our “Unity” message; it was hateful when they painted over “Cats for Trump,” instead saying “F*** Trump”; and it was hateful when they ambushed us in an attempt to silence us. Yet, we’re accused of hate speech.

This is nothing new – College Republicans have previously been targeted after putting up American and Israel flags.

But it is part of a broader backlash right-leaning students have faced on our liberal college campus.

The morning after the election, campus seemed to be in a slump. There were very few students walking around and attending classes. In fact, in many of mine, my professors started with a disclaimer acknowledging that students may be feeling down. Some of my classes were also made attendance-optional for the week – something many other elite, liberal universities experience.

I had also gotten odd looks as I passed people on the sidewalk. As president of the College Republicans, I had been interviewed by the campus newspaper The Daily Northwestern. My quotes and photos were published Wednesday morning. I figured that may be why.

The most dramatic shift in my social circle was the massive drop in followers after I had posted a photo of Trump’s victory with the caption “Cheers.” Friends I used to be close with told me I was stupid and that they didn’t want anything to do with someone as ignorant, ridiculous, and entitled as I am.

Even though nothing had changed in our friendship from Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning, they were willing to drop me based on who I voted for, without doing proper research themselves.

This, unfortunately, happened to a lot of my friends in the College Republicans, too.

But the ostracization and backlash won’t silence us.

MORE: Check out the Campus Cancel Culture Database

IMAGES: Jeanine Yuen for The College Fix

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