UMiami president condemns Trump-Pence sign vandalism
The University of Miami College Republicans obtained permission to display a Trump-Pence sign on campus.
The display, however, was vandalized with a poster charactering Trump posters as "white supremacists" and black paint.
The university president strongly condemned the act of vandalism in an emailed statement to students the following day.
In the heat of campaign season, the College Republicans chapter at the University of Miami put up a Trump-Pence 2020 sign, after having received permission from the school to place the large sign on campus grounds.
Within days, however, the sign was not only repeatedly vandalized, but also tampered with.
The College Republicans group was quick to act, alerting the administration of the ordeal and repairing the banner multiple times. Photos and video posted to Twitter allegedly show the vandalism to the sign, as well as one woman described as a “faculty member” who was “beginning to remove the sign.”
University of Miami College Republicans (@UMCRs) received permission to display a sign in support of @realDonaldTrump on campus
Within hours, the sign was vandalized multiple times by students before being removed & discarded by a faculty member pic.twitter.com/e8UCoEBNui— Sofia Carbone (@sofiaicarbone) October 28, 2020
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UM President sent an email to students the following day, condemning the incident.
”The College Republicans chapter at the University of Miami utilized the process afforded to all student groups to exercise their right to free speech, yet someone attempted to thwart their expression. This is an unacceptable act of disrespect, and those found responsible will be held accountable,” Frenk said, adding that attempts “to silence opinions is anathema to who we are at the University of Miami.”
University of Miami College Republicans Public Relations Officer Ally Sample told Campus Reform that the group put up the sign “to not only express our support for the president and vice president but to also advertise our campus organization.”
Having gone through the proper channels, the group was in shock to find that “within hours of having it up, a student defaced the sign with a poster, which stated ‘white supremacists get off my campus.’” Sample said that “soon after” the group fixed that damage, “the same student revisited the sign and had vandalized it with black paint.”
The College Republicans expressed to Campus Reform its gratitude to UM for defending the right to free speech.
“While many have attempted to silence and harass our members for standing by us in our support for POTUS, we are incredibly grateful for the support we have received from the university administration,” Sample said. “One of the key pillars, and most valuable attribute, of our society, is freedom of speech and we are thankful that the university has stood by us in recognizing this.“
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