by Ben Zeisloft
A student at Central Michigan University boasted on social media about defacing his conservative classmates’ chalk drawings.
Anthony James — operating under the username “brownskinqueer” on Twitter — declared on September 29 that he spent forty-five minutes erasing “copaganda, racist, and pro-life bullshit” from a sidewalk at Central Michigan University.
https://twitter.com/brownskinqueer/status/1443402836860092419?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1443402836860092419%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.campusreform.org%2Farticle%3Fid%3D18277
Images provided to Campus Reform by the CMU College Republicans show their chalk displays crossed out and defaced with other slogans.
“It’s disappointing as a leader for this group to watch my members work so hard on their creations just for them to be destroyed a few hours later,” CMU College Republicans Vice President Hannah Hendley told Campus Reform.
“You’d think at a campus where students preach so much for diversity and tolerance wouldn’t have a problem with other views being respectfully displayed,” she added.
A drawing of an American flag with the phrase “Back the Blue” was crossed out; “BLM” was written underneath. The vandal wrote “Eat” above the phrase “Love Them Both.” Likewise, the word “Life” in the phrase “Pro-Life Is Pro-Women” was crossed out, and “Choice” was written in its place.
The CMU College Republicans also included a note requesting that their fellow students “practice the tolerance you preach” by not defacing their chalk drawings. Someone wrote “Sorry, Your Mom” below the message.
Central Michigan University permits students and registered student organizations to write messages on horizontal surfaces with water-soluble chalk.
As university spokesperson Heather Smith explained to Campus Reform, the Central Michigan University Office of Student Conduct “reviews all alleged violations of the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Disciplinary Procedures to determine whether or not university policy has been violated.”
In any such incidents, the school “remains committed to protecting First Amendment rights, as well as the right to present an issue and the right to disagree on an issue,” Smith added.
Campus Reform reached out to James for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
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Ben Zeisloft is a Campus Reform Student Editor and Pennsylvania Senior Campus Correspondent, reporting on liberal bias and abuse for Campus Reform. He is studying Business Economics & Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Ben also reports on economics for The Daily Wire, and his past work can be found in Spectator USA. He is the editor-in-chief of The UPenn Statesman, an independent newspaper devoted to free speech, as well as an editor of the Penn Epistle, a student-led Christian magazine.
Photo “Central Michigan University” by Central Michigan University.
