College students participating in a nationwide walkout against President-elect Donald Trump and “this white supremacist, this rapist, this xenophobic, Islamophobic, classist, misogynistic, queerphobic, and racist system” seem to think that the majority of college students’ lives are in danger now that Trump has been elected president.
Students at 37 colleges and universities have committed to a walk-out that will take place at 3 pm ET, according to an online document being used to organize the “#OurCampus #SanctuaryCampus” walkout.
“We reject this white supremacist, this rapist, this xenophobic, Islamophobic, classist, misogynistic, queerphobic, and racist system to have authority over our lives. Trump is a symbol for larger structures of oppression that gave birth to him,” reads a section of the document titled “message.”
“The University must place the safety of its students first and foremost. Most of a University’s population now have their lives at risk. The University must protect us with every power it has available,” it continues.
The document includes a list of “possible demands” for students to make of their universities, like providing money “to students to complete the cost of their travels and resources to join Standing Rock Sioux Water Protectors fighting against the construction of [the Dakota Access Pipeline].”
The students “stand as an anti-white supremacist, anti-sexist, pro-immigration, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and anti-militarization front. This will be the start to organizations we will create, to sustainably maintain resistance after this day, week, month, and year is over,” according to the organizers.
Students at Brown University, Dartmouth University, George Washington University and dozens of others have committed to the protest.
Brown students published a list of “demands” in accordance with their walkout that repeats the unsupported claim that “Most of our University’s population now have their lives at risk.”
Among other things, the students “Demand” that the university “dramatically increase the funding of the Brown Muslim Student Center,” “Increase its acceptance of Muslim international students,” “increase its acceptance of Palestinian international students” and “increase its acceptance of Syrian refugees.”
Another demand is “that the dental discount for students covered by Brown health insurance be expanded to full coverage.”
It’s unclear how this “demand” relates to fighting “this white supremacist, this rapist, this xenophobic, Islamophobic, classist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, and racist system.”
Another “demand” states that “The University must refuse all voluntary information sharing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)/Customs Border Protection (CBP) across all aspects of the University to the fullest extent possible under the law.”
“The University must increase the percentage of domestic Black students to at least match the domestic Black population in the United States. We expect Black students to comprise a minimum of 13% of the Brown’s domestic undergraduate student population,” reads another “demand.”
Many of the Brown student’s “demands” appear to be copied verbatim from the list of “Possible demands” suggested by the nationwide organizers.