EDWARD SIMON CRUZ: On Monday morning, The Rock had a clear message painted on it in black and white: “Cats Against Hate.”
That evening, the message on The Rock changed three times in under two hours.
Northwestern College Republicans, or NUCR, was responsible for the initial change Monday night. Some of its members planned to paint The Rock red with the acronym “MAGA,” short for President-elect Donald Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again.”
Those plans changed when a larger group of students gathered, opposing the message. The students painting The Rock agreed to paint a new statement: “NUCR 4 Unity.”
Weinberg freshman Alexander Torres thought this change was a good compromise.
ALEXANDER TORRES: I agree with that message. I think in public discourse, people are going to be upset because they don’t want to be reminded that their side lost an election. But I think as far as free speech goes, they followed the rules, they camped out for 24 hours, and they absolutely deserve to have their message up there.
JOHN KOWALSKI: On the other hand, Communication junior Camryn Helgeland said it was disrespectful for NUCR to cover up and replace the previous message of unity.
Helgeland described an incident that had occurred while a student was painting The Rock:
CAMRYN HELGELAND: One person who was actively painting — a girl in a baseball cap, she’s around here somewhere, I did not catch her name — um, she pointed out to a group of people and said, “You guys are all in the club,” and then when I said, “Oh so you guys are condoning this,” all of them backed away and said, “No, no, no, we’re not,” except for one, um, which is funny to me because now they’re all around him filming. They were filming me arguing with one of the gentlemen there.
KOWALSKI: Several students at The Rock debated various political issues among themselves, talking about everything from reproductive rights to climate change to tariffs.
Helgeland was arguing with Weinberg junior Hudson Quinn.
HUDSON QUINN: I was just walking by. I saw my little brother was actually talking to some people here, and uh, they were berating him and screaming at him, calling him names, so I felt the need as his big brother to step in.
KOWALSKI: Quinn described to me how the environment that he grew up in, that being New York City, was very similar to a college campus in its hostility towards Republicans.
QUINN: There are a lot of people who literally will hate you because maybe you want lower taxes. But, uh, you just have to ignore those people and focus on the people who want to have a conversation in good faith and, uh, can manage their emotions enough to accept people who disagree with them.
CRUZ: Between Friday and Saturday, unidentified students painted pro-Trump statements on and around The Rock, including the “MAGA” acronym and the phrase “Cats 4 Trump.” On Saturday morning, students painted over parts of the messaging in blue.
By the end of the weekend, the entire Rock was eventually repainted in black and white with the “Cats Against Hate” message. One person who helped with the design was Communication freshman Kyle Vetter.
As we spoke with Vetter on Monday night, another student began painting over the “NUCR” and the “4,” leaving only the word “Unity.” Vetter’s response?
KYLE VETTER: I feel like, just stop making it such, like, a two-sided division. If both sides stand for unity, then unify. That’s what the word means.
CRUZ: And then, something else happened:
VETTER: Um, yeah, I, I, I feel like there’s — oh, and they spray-painted “MAGA.” Alright. Cute. Well, that’s that down the drain.
[natural sound: Yuen spray-painting “MAGA” onto The Rock]
CRUZ: Weinberg senior and NUCR President Jeanine Yuen was the one to spray-paint “MAGA” onto The Rock. She said that under the compromise, The Rock could include both “NUCR 4 Unity” and a message supporting Trump. After part of that design was covered up, Yuen said she would still paint the planned message of support.
JEANINE YUEN: The Rock is a symbol of free speech. If we camped it out and followed the rules — we camped it out for 24 for hours — and if we paint our design on there, that should stay on there. It is a cornerstone of freedom of speech, and the fact that they were able to vandalize that so quickly and take it down so quickly — meaning that there is a major condemnation of voices here on campus, and I think that is incredibly unhealthy for political discourse and for the U.S. society as a whole.
KOWALSKI: Communication freshman Ien Ruark believed that the message of MAGA painted on The Rock seemed to be spreading hatred.
IEN RUARK: When human rights are on the debate, it’s not about politics anymore, um, and we’re still making it about politics, and so, my opinion is that if you believe that this is going to be what a great America looks like, then you are not on the side of human life.
KOWALSKI: Helgeland gave a message for college Republicans:
HELGELAND: There’s room for you here, as long as you are respectful of others, and I think they have shown they are not, and I’m disappointed in them also because I think that college is a time in general to learn more about various viewpoints, and I feel they have come in with a very narrow viewpoint and a very “I’m right, you’re wrong” attitude to the point of harm to others. I’m disappointed. But as I said to one of them who said that they were cold, I will lend you my coat regardless. I don’t mind being cold if it means you’re warm. But I know that you would not do the same for me because I have different views.
KOWALSKI: Torres identifies as left-leaning but said the right-leaning students generally behaved more respectfully than the left-leaning ones.
TORRES: The club, the right here, camped it out, 24 hours, put up, uh — made a compromise with the students who showed up, put up a respectful message, and then I think the left was the one who more so went against the rules, scrubbed off their message. And then also in the discourse, I’ve observed, I’ve observed more, more yelling or talking over or logical fallacies from the left, who don’t really seem to be as interested in listening as opposed to the right.
CRUZ: Weinberg sophomore and NUCR Treasurer Gabriel Bayer helped paint The Rock on Monday evening, even as he said he had his own reservations toward the idea.
Bayer said many on campus enforce free speech with a double standard, disproportionately targeting and silencing conservative students. When I spoke with him Tuesday, he said students needed to expose themselves to different and possibly new perspectives.
GABRIEL BAYER: I think yesterday was a missed opportunity, because we were so close to have a deep moment of unity. We had some great conversations with the opposing side. And just to see someone who was — just attacked that display of unity, just betrayed that we could have unity or free speech in this campus, leading to a knee-jerk response, is super disappointing, because — like, we’re better than this. I really do think we’re better than this.
KOWALSKI: Yuen left The Rock with a bucket of paint shortly after 11 p.m., while the students who remained mostly wrapped up their conversations around midnight. Many shook hands and exchanged cordial goodbyes as they left.
Weinberg freshman Jacob Benitez helped paint over the previous pro-MAGA messaging on the Rock. He said he wanted to paint over The Rock this time, but he simply didn’t find it productive.
JACOB BENITEZ: When I was walking down my stairs from East Fairchild, I was like, “Yeah, I should bring the tent out again, y’know — they’re already done painting” — you just, like, start camping out, um, wait the 24 hours, but I have work tomorrow. Like, I work a six-hour shift tomorrow. I have studying to do. I have jobs to do. So yeah, if only I were that free.
CRUZ: Around 12:30 a.m., unidentified students partially covered up the acronym “MAGA” with red paint. As of Wednesday afternoon, the design on The Rock remains unchanged.
For WNUR News, I’m Edward Simon Cruz.
KOWALSKI: And I’m John Kowalski.
