Eagles for Pride celebrated Coming Out Day on Oct. 11 by writing uplifting quotes in chalk on the sidewalks around Ashland University’s campus. Two of the quotes were anonymously crossed out and written over with derogatory sayings.
“This place where we live is supposed to be welcoming and loving and is supposed to be accepting of everyone,” Ann Torkelson, sophomore resident assistant, said. Torkelson is a RA in Andrews, where a quote about same sex marriage was written in front of the building, scribbled out and the word “sin” was displayed beside it.
The other saying was exhibited in the academic quad, which said “And the universe said I love you because you are love.” The quote was changed to say “And God said I love you because I am love.”
It was determined the sayings had been tampered with during the night, and AU facilities had it washed away by 8 the next morning.
“Imagine you’re a freshman coming to campus for the first time and you have never been able to explore your identity, and then you walk outside of your dorm and see that on the ground,” Hannah Myers, president of Eagles for Pride, said.
The club has been “treading lightly” the past few years, not writing quotes that could potentially be controversial, but decided to be a bit more ambiguous this year.
Junior psychology major Rhiannon Reed said chalking for Coming Out Day is something the club has always done and has never received any kind of backlash for it.
“We do it to purely just make people’s days better, whether you are associated with this day or not,” Reed said.
Eagles for Pride is not sanctioned in chalking according to the chalk policy the campus upholds, therefore the university will not be making a statement about the issue because they believe it would be promoting unsanctioned activity.
The vandalism of the quotes has left Eagles for Pride discouraged and disappointed. The group does not know if they will continue to chalk the sidewalks, or try to do an event instead to celebrate the day in the future.