VIDEO: UVA students sign petition to ban Christmas

In this season’s most anticipated holiday spin-off, Campus Reform visits the University of Virginia dressed as “The Hipsters Who Stole Christmas.”

With schools across the country outright banning even such innocuous Christmas decorations as evergreen trees and images of Santa because they could be interpreted as being “non-inclusive,” Campus Reform wanted to find out what students think of the idea.

[RELATED: No ‘religious icons’ during Christmas, colleges tell students]

CRO reporters Amber Athey and Cabot Phillips visited UVA, created a faux student group called “Students for an Inclusive Holiday Season,” and asked students to sign a petition getting rid of school references to Christmas because of the holiday’s “oppressive” and “triggering” nature.

In less than two hours, nearly twenty students opted to sign the fake Christmas-banning petition.

“This time of year, it feels like people can shove their holiday happiness in your face, like ‘Merry Christmas!’ and it just gets kind of old,” Phillips ventured, as a signee agreed.

Athey told another group of students that the faux student organization was sending a letter to the administration to let them know that the overt celebration of Christmas can be “almost oppressive” for some students on campus.

“I will totally sign,” a female student enthusiastically responded.

“I know a lot of students who aren’t religious, so when they see the Christmas trees and all the lights it can be a bit triggering, so we’re just trying to make campus a safe space for them,” Athey explained to a student while he signed the petition.

“Cool, well good luck,” the student said.

Several students acknowledged that perhaps UVA favors Christmas more than other holidays, but said they had gotten used to seeing all of the decorations on campus.

“No one should have to get used to oppression,” Phillips quipped.

[RELATED: 'Holiday,' 'evergreen trees' too religious for TWU]

Campus Reform also attempted to tie an increase in Christmas spirit to Trump’s victory by suggesting that Christmas enthusiasts had become “emboldened” by “Trump’s rhetoric,” and some students agreed that it seemed they were hearing “Merry Christmas” more than ever before.

“It can be scary for some students,” Athey observed, to the sage nod of one petition signer.

Follow the authors of this article on Twitter: @amber_athey and @cabot_phillips