Tensions erupt at Texas universities, public schools after Donald Trump's win
Texas universities and public schools are facing escalating tensions on their campuses in the aftermath of Donald Trump's election to the presidency on Tuesday night.
Here's a roundup of protests and racially charged incidents reported statewide:
- Hundreds of students at the University of Texas at Austin walked out of class Wednesday and marched in an hours-long protest downtown. According to The Daily Texan, UT-Austin's student newspaper, the protest was formed by a coalition of student organizations at UT, including the Palestine Solidarity Committee, the Queer and Trans Alliance and the Revolutionary Student Front.
- At Texas State University, a controversial flyer circulated calling for vigilante squads to tar and feather university leaders who were “spouting off all this Diversity Garbage.” According to KXAN News, the flyer also said snakes and piranhas should be used in the Rio Grande to stop illegal immigrants.
- Also at Texas State, a protest over Trump's election lasted hours on Thursday. According to the Austin American-Statesman, the event was tense. A fight nearly broke out, and someone was escorted off campus after trying to light an American flag on fire.
- At Baylor University, a student who identified herself as Natasha said in a video posted on Twitter that someone bumped into her on a sidewalk on her way to class and called her the n-word. "He said, 'No [expletive] allowed on the sidewalk,'" she said in the video. "I was just shocked — like, I had no words." She said another person walking behind her confronted the man and said, "Dude, what are you doing? That is not cool." "And the guy said, 'Dude, what? I am just trying to make America great again,'" the female student said in the video.
- Amar Alhakim, a student at Plano East High School, told WFAA that a student tried to forcibly remove her hijab on Wednesday. "All of a sudden I feel like a hand on my bun in the back. He tries to pull it. I just push him. And I ran inside. I was really scared. I didn't know what to do,” she said. Alhakim said she stayed home from school Thursday.
- Also at Plano East High School, a student tweeted a photo of a chalk drawing written on the ground that said: “Build the Wall.” The student told The Dallas Morning News that she cried at school when she saw the chalk. "I fear for my friends and I fear for my family,” Natasha Cruz told the newspaper. “Being at school that day was the worst day I've ever experienced there." In a statement to WFAA, Plano ISD said, “Upon arriving at school today to find upsetting graffiti chalked on a campus walkway, Principal George King encouraged sensitivity among students. He immediately had the graffiti removed and encouraged staff members to infuse rational calm into their thoughts and words as they addressed students who may be experiencing raw feelings.”
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