Atlanta Students Freak Out Over Trump Chalkings

Students at Emory University, a private research college in Atlanta, Georgia, launched into a protest last week upon finding…prepare yourself…chalk writings on campus supporting Donald Trump. Ten years ago – hell, maybe even as few as five years ago – the students would have rolled their eyes, made some chalk messages of their own, and moved on with their day. But in 2016, where liberal students are desperate to recreate the 1960s, there’s no room for opposing opinions. There is only outrage.

According to a story in the Emory school newspaper, approximately 40 students descended on the administration building to protest the “microaggression” inherent in the Trump chalkings. “You are not listening,” they chanted. “Come speak to us, we are in pain!”

One student shared her feelings with the Emory Wheel:

“I’m supposed to feel comfortable and safe,” she said. “But this man is being supported by students on our campus and our administration shows that they, by their silence, support it as well. I don’t deserve to feel afraid at my school.”

Eager to avoid the type of uprising that has beleaguered other campuses for the past eight months, University President James Wagner ushered the protesters into a board room to listen to their complaints. When he asked them what he should do, the students demanded that he send out an email denouncing Trump. Wagner refused. Another student suggested that he could stop short of disavowing Trump, but at least send an email “just to acknowledge that there are students on this campus who feel this way about what’s happening”

That was apparently a compromise Wagner could get behind. The next day, he sent out just such an email, promising the students that the university would implement “immediate refinements to certain policy and procedural deficiencies, regular and structured opportunities for difficult dialogues, a formal process to institutionalize identification, review and [the] addressing of social justice opportunities and issues and a commitment to an annual retreat to renew our efforts.”

Whatever that means.

If this non-resolution is enough to shut the protesters up, then good for Wagner. But it’s a sad statement on society that he had to acknowledge them at all. Because the only proper response to something like this is: “Hey guys? You’re in college now. Time to grow up.”

But you take a position like that, and the next thing you know, you’re looking for a job. Schools like the University of Missouri and Claremont McKenna have shown there are serious ramifications for any academic official who fails to treat minority protesters with anything less than fawning submissiveness. You’re black? You believe you’re being treated unfairly? Oh, well guess what? You’re automatically right! Congratulations!

One student at the protest complained that many of his peers were struggling academically because they had to spend so much time worrying about issues of social justice. Imagine if you’d come home from college to tell your parents that this was why you were flunking your classes. Where are these parents today? What the hell have parents been doing for the last twenty years?

The future of this country is in serious danger.