Gonzaga students use chalk to spread message of love and support
Students at Gonzaga University woke up Friday to find many sidewalks covered with positive messages of love and support. Some of the chalk messages quoted Martin Luther King Jr. and other notable Americans, while others were as simple as “You are loved.”
Clare Prange, a senior from Irvine, California, said she planned the message-writing event Thursday evening after spotting several messages on campus sidewalks supporting what she deemed was the divisive language of President-elect Donald Trump.
“I’m a senior and that was the first time I was ashamed to be a Zag,” she said. “I wanted to make sure everyone at Gonzaga feels love.”
Prange recruited her friends and roommates to help her write positive messages and then created an event on Facebook inviting others to come along. About 30 people spent more than three hours writing on the sidewalks.
“Political discourse is essential for democracy, but don’t let it turn into hate.”
While some thanked the students for the messages or asked for a piece of chalk to add their own, not everyone was supportive. She said some dorm residents were yelling, spitting, putting Trump signs in their windows and pouring water on the sidewalks to erase the students’ work.
“They were vastly outnumbered,” she said. “I don’t think that louder was necessarily better. They wanted to be heard, and we wanted to get our message out. Everyone out there wanted everyone at Gonzaga to feel safe and a small minority shouldn’t change that.”
“To the marginalized, silenced and forgotten, you have a place at my table and a friend in me.”
Student Geneis Yanez, who stood atop some of the messages as she chatted with her friends Friday, said she was heartened to see the messages. It was a change from Thursday, when she saw the pro-Trump slogans on the sidewalk and heard chants of “Build the wall” come from Desmet Hall as she and other students walked by.
“I definitely don’t like hearing that on the way to class,” said Yanez, whose family is from Honduras.
Yanez said she grew up in Seattle, where the population is more diverse. Spokane is less multicultural, which is why she was so glad to see the messages on the concrete.
“There’s more support than I thought there was,” she said. “That’s good to know.”
“Republican. Democrat. We are united. Let’s go forward together.”
Student Jose Solis said many minority students he knows were apprehensive after Tuesday’s election and the sidewalk messages have reassured them. “Before this all happened they were really scared,” he said.
“You are welcomed. You are wanted.”
Gonzaga spokeswoman Mary Joan Hahn said she was not aware of any complaints about student behavior after the election.
“Gonzaga values responsible engagement by all members of the campus community in major issues facing our nation,” she said. “The university supports the rights of all to convey their views in a respectful, thoughtful way.”
“I have decided to stick with love.”