DePaul University Outlaws Chalked Political Messages
Fear the CHALK!
The chalking epidemic that began at Emory University hit DePaul University a few weeks ago.
Pro-Trump messages etched in chalk caused hysteria and confusion for students encountering an opposing view.
The Chalkening was too much for DePaul University, apparently, where administrators recently banned chalked political messages.
Anthony Gockowski of Campus Reform reported:
DePaul University will no longer allow students to chalk political messages on the sidewalks of its campus because of the “offensive, hurtful, and divisive” nature of pro-Trump chalking found on campus last week.
“While these chalk messages are part of national agendas in a heated political battle, they appeared on campus at a time of significant racial tension in our country and on college campuses. DePaul is no exception,” Depaul’s vice president for student affairs Eugene Zdziarski wrote in a campus-wide email obtained by Campus Reform. “The university has been addressing campus climate issues in an effort to provide an inclusive and supportive educational environment. In this context, many students, faculty and staff found the chalk messages offensive, hurtful and divisive.”
Consequently, Zdziarski explained that DePaul’s status as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organization prohibits students from participating in any political activity that could be interpreted as a reflection of the university’s “views or opinions.” Political chalking on Depaul’s grounds, Zdziarski argued, fits this description.
“However, as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organization, the university is significantly limited in the types of political activities it can promote or support,” he wrote. “In accordance with federal regulations, DePaul may not engage in any activity in support of or opposition to any candidate for public office, federal, state or local. In practice, this means no partisan political advertising may be conducted on campus that could in any way be attributed to DePaul University.”
DePaul College Republicans organized the chalking that was promptly cleaned up by the campus ground crew.
The DePaulia reported:
In a statement, the university said that campus grounds crews made an independent decision to remove the chalking in part because of its content.
“After some investigation, it turns out this happened for two reasons. First, the crew regularly cleans up chalk messages on our sidewalks. This is a part of their duties. Secondly, some among the crew considered the messages inflammatory. The crew has agreed to consult about such matters in the future.”
Special Snowflakes – 1, Sanity – 0.
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Comments
When Chalk Is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Chalk
#TheChalkening
How long before you have to fill out form 4473 to buy chalk?
and possess the outdoor art license along with belonging to the Loyal Brotherhood Of Public Outdoor Street Artists.
lol! good one!
Just RT’ed a chalk tweet from Charles V Payne of Fox Business Channel and I used the phrase as the intro for the retweet.
What fun! Charles immedately favorited it!
Hope he uses it on air.
Actually, Charles aka @cvpayne, retweeted it.
https://twitter.com/VotingFemale/status/721109440011722752
I have a hard time believing someone caught chalking a Hillary logo or especially a Bernie phrase would be punished. Warned at best. Certainly not punished. But the next Trump chalker will be made into an example!
I hope there will be some follow up reporting regarding selective enforcement which is a near certainty. It ought to be fun watching these idiots scrubbing off the BLM chalkings as the SJWs go ballistic; so they probably won’t.
What nonsense. If DePaul is really worried about its 501(c)3 status, why can’t it just post a sign (or signs) saying that student (or other) chalkings about political figures or political issues on campus are reflections of the chalker’s own personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the university?
Isn’t it interesting how these student expressions of political views didn’t become so worrisome to the universities until the views were those with which the lefty universities disagreed. I saw all kinds of support being expressed for candidate Barack Obama in several universities in 2008, and nobody ever suggested that those students should be silenced.
As I read it, there are still the concrete benches and walls that are fair game. And–if all else fails– the “traditional” bathroom stalls are always a vehicle of “personal communication.”
T-shirts are an option, too.
They’re right. Chalk is so … so … ephemeral. Frivolous. A transient fad.
Spray paint is so much better.
No word yet from Kansas Univ saying they are changing their chant that states “Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk”.
This could be at the same level as removing Woodrow Wilson’s name at Princeton. Banish chalk messages and the word “chalk” from the lexicon!
Chalk it up to the Progressives. Er, . . . never mind.
I really can’t tell if these kids are incredibly fragile or if they’re simply malcontents expert at gaming the system. The Boomers were a tough lot and the GenXers seem to be holding their own, but these millennials are tougher to figure out. Are they really that soft?
yes, they indeed really are that soft and incapable of handling failure. Everything……Every-Thing that they have done their entire life, no matter how mundane, has been celebrated collectively as a huge win. A life devoid of failure is a life of illusion.
How long now ’til the Democrats recommend that we do away with the multiple party system and just go with socialism and one party rule to avoid confrontation and to make everyone “one big happy group of people owned by the State”? I honestly think that is the reason why all semblances of identity must be done away, including diversity of thought.
They’ll get over-confident and try it a minute or so before they could actually get away with it.
“Zdziarski explained that DePaul’s status as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organization prohibits students from participating in any political activity that could be interpreted as a reflection of the university’s “views or opinions.” Political chalking on Depaul’s grounds, Zdziarski argued, fits this description.”
Only an idiot could argue with a straight face that an anonymous chalked message on a sidewalk could be interpreted in any way as a “reflection of the university’s views.”
Let the Trump chalkers now start chalking Hillary, Bernie, and BLM messages, and record the inaction of the DePaul administration to those messages. Should make for entertaining press coverage!
PS–I have never before typed the words “chalkers” or “chalking”, and certainly not in the same sentence!
MTED, #TheChalkening has you.
I would argue that they have lost their status as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organization because they previously allowed political messages, but now they don’t, since ones they disapprove of have started appearing. Hence, they have indicated they are anti-Trump, not neutral. I’m anti-Trump in the Republican primary race, but I’m going to show it by voting for Cruz in the NY primary in 5 days, not getting all bent out of shape because others are pro-Trump. And if he gets the nomination, I’ll crawl over broken glass to vote for him instead of the Communist or Monica Lewinsky’s ex-boyfriend’s wife.
Not a Trump fanbot but I am VERY disturbed by the left’s assertion that even his name written in chalk on a sidewalk is “hateful”, “divisive”, “racist”, etc… People on the right or center who don’t support Trump should be very wary of allowing that tactic to stand. It Will Be Used Against You In The Future.
Count on it.
I’m thinking of reporting political signs for candidates I don’t support as hate speech, especially if they’re on public property.
Report to whom? And on what grounds? There is no such legal category as “hate speech”, and speech in limited public forums is protected by the first amendment.
Texas A&M = right to carry vs. DePaul = no chalk…..I am glad to be an Aggie.
Whoooop…!!! GIG ‘EM…!!!
Maybe Trump followers can use hopscotch courts the same way ancient Christians used the fish symbol.
That’s both really funny and a great idea all at the same time. BTW, check out today’s Pearls Before Swine. Outstanding timing for Stephen Pastis. http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2016/04/15
It’s my favorite strip. Doesn’t have any today, but lots of puns.
Oh my goodness, went to Toys R Us and there were boxes and boxes of CHALK, all kinds! I almost fainted, I was so scared. I found a safe place in the nearby Babys R Us!
“If you can’t take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It’s not safe out here. It’s wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it’s not for the timid.”
Anti Trump myself but … Geez. Grow up little snowflakes – or melt in the blast furnace of this thing called the real world.
What if the administrators at LI posted a message that all future references to the Trump campaign are a violation of its “terms of Service” because of the “offensive, hurtful and divisive” content?
#realitycheck
“What if…”
It’s their blog. They can do as they please.
In related news, sales of spray paint just took off.