Emory Daycare University, the same place that seriously considered banning Yik Yak last year, is in the news (The Onion, AJC, The Chronicle of Higher Learning, Barstool Sports, The Emory Wheel, The Tab) for one of the stupidest things that you will ever read around here (and Ed had nothing to do with it). On Monday, someone used chalk to write hateful things all over the Emory campus without University permission, which led some students to protest. I mean, who wouldn’t get riled up at vile, abominable, atrocious, offensive, odious, repulsive, repugnant things written in erasable chalk such as “Trump,” “Trump!!,” “Trump 2016”, and heaven forbid, “Vote Trump” and “Vote Trump 2016”???
Oh, the humanity! To paraphrase Antoine Dodson: “Y’all need to hide your kids, hide your wife, and hide your husband cause they’re chalkin’ everything out here.” Rumor is that there are other political advertisements on campus, so hopefully the University can set aside assets to protect students from the horrors of any campaign signs, bumper stickers, t-shirts, flyers, buttons, etc.
Some student responses to the chalkings:
From Twitter – Jules (@delacrazycurls): “Talking to a friend about it and she says ‘Literally seeing that feels like seeing a swastika or like the n word'” and “This makes me uncomfortable” and “I didnt expect Vote Trump chalkings all over well traveled paths on campus this morning, and I really don’t want to deal with it ugh go away.”
From The Emory Wheel: “‘I’m supposed to feel comfortable and safe [here],’ one student 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,’ she added.”
Jim Wagner, the Babysitter President of Emory University, had this to say in a campus-wide email:
Dear Emory Community,
Yesterday I received a visit from 40 to 50 student protesters upset by the unexpected chalkings on campus sidewalks and some buildings yesterday morning, in this case referencing Donald Trump. The students shared with me their concern that these messages were meant to intimidate rather than merely to advocate for a particular candidate, having appeared outside of the context of a Georgia election or campus campaign activity. During our conversation, they voiced their genuine concern and pain in the face of this perceived intimidation.
After meeting with our students, I cannot dismiss their expression of feelings and concern as motivated only by political preference or over-sensitivity. Instead, the students with whom I spoke heard a message, not about political process or candidate choice, but instead about values regarding diversity and respect that clash with Emory’s own.
I ain’t posting anymore of what he said, because it’s just plain silly. To use the famous quote from the Principal in Billy Madison:
“What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”
A big hat tip to Jim Galloway, political insider at the AJC, on his “note to President Wagner and others on the Emory University campus”:
“Yes, Georgia’s presidential primary is over. Yet, while it might sometimes appear so, Georgia is not hermetically sealed from a discussion that continues elsewhere. Hillary Clinton has turned her head to the general election, and so has Donald Trump. Many others have as well. This is what happens when the field narrows to two likely candidates. You have an excellent political science department that will vouch for me on this.
Your ‘unexpected’ chalker is engaging in a political debate that will continue through the first Tuesday in November. It is an important and necessary debate. Deal with it, or get thee to a monastery.”