College Republicans ‘trigger warning’ wall message quickly painted over by critics

You know what makes Ohio University students feel unsafe? This phrase:

Trigger warning: there are no safe spaces in real life! You can’t wall off the 1st Amendment.

OU’s College Republicans plastered that message around 10 p.m. Wednesday on the school’s designated “graffiti wall,” where any student can paint (and paint over) any message. It lasted less than four hours.

The Post reports:

After images of the wall circulated on social media that night, a group of students, who would not disclose their names or an affiliation with a student organization, repainted the wall at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday with the phrase “Bobcats stick together.” [So The Post apparently caught them in the act.]

As of Thursday at noon, that painting remained on the graffiti wall.

Out here voicing the opinion of the people who believe in the wall and national security. #freedomofspeech pic.twitter.com/V1cO0hsb1R

— OU College Republicans (@OUCRs) April 14, 2016

The College Republicans felt the need to defend free speech after Greek leadership denounced some members for painting pro-Donald Trump messages on the wall, calling it “offensive and hurtful,” President David Parkhill told The Post:

“We feel like we’re being silenced and we feel like people are putting our point of view down, which is what we don’t want, so we’re going to fight back and we’re going to say this is our point of view.” …

Members of the OU College Republicans, Parkhill said, feel their opinions are not welcome on campus.

“We want our voices heard, even if it’s an unpopular opinion,” he said.

https://twitter.com/Phalen_K/status/720492163142914048

The president of the College Democrats had this curious reaction: “Oftentimes Republicans will use the First Amendment as an excuse to go against political correctness.” Perhaps because political correctness is antithetical to the First Amendment?

A Black Lives Matter message with a raised fist lasted five days on the graffiti wall last fall, but when it was painted over with a message criticizing the activists, they called it defacement, campus police investigated, and top school officials met with aggrieved students.

The so-called defacement even led activists to demand a mandatory “cultural competency” course requirement starting in spring 2017.

If OU is missing “safe spaces” for anyone on campus, it’s College Republicans.

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