“Fuck Donald Trump! Fuck Elon Musk! Fuck Zuckerberg! Fuck big tech!”
These cries, led by a group of protestors and supportive passersby, rang across Wilson Quad on the afternoon of Thursday Jan. 23.
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held the rally to protest the incoming Trump administration. Held in the days following President Trump’s inauguration, the rally featured a combination of prepared speeches, calls to action, an open forum, and chanting. It started on Eastman Quad, moved down to Wilson Quad, and before circling back to where it began.
Speakers touched on a variety of topics, ranging from climate change to unionization efforts. One speaker, who requested anonymity on the basis of concerns for her safety, spoke about her own experience as a trans woman and expressed concern for the safety of trans people in the U.S.’ changing political landscape.
“The Democratic Party, like so many other groups of people in this country, will not save us from the fascism of the incoming administration,” she said. “Neither will other groups who openly collaborate with the Republican party, such as our campus PRIDE Network, hosting an event in collaboration with the College Republicans, for a conversation about, and I quote, ‘queer issues and transgender rights’. Now is not the time for a debate over our rights. Now is the time to protect each other.”
Both Karl Hirsch, President of the College Republicans, and the Vice President of the PRIDE Network, Ella Peddicord, say that there are no current plans to host a collaborative event in the future. However, the College Republicans and PRIDE Network co-hosted a discussion during December that focused on both U.S. and local LGBTQ+ related topics, specifically Paul Singer, a wealthy UR alum and businessman who invests into LGBTQ+ activism.
Other topics discussed during the protest included deportations, climate change, and the social direction of the new Trump administration.
According to senior Somes Schwinghammer, students should prepare for a future increase in political action.
“We on this campus will need to be locking arms to stop ICE from getting to our fellow students,” Schwinghammer said. “This is not theoretical, this is possible, because Donald Trump is trying to deport 20 million plus people from this country, and there are some on this campus.”
In an interview with TIME Magazine in 2024, Trump estimated that the undocumented population residing in the U.S. is up to 20 million people. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimates that the actual number is about 11 million.
Schwinghammer and another speaker, Helen German, both expressed concerns about the incoming presidential administration’s treatment of climate change.
“We are being robbed by the world’s richest men who will stop at nothing to get what they want,” German said. “Who will use their influence, power, and money in making sure the entire planet can be crushed in their hand [sic], who don’t care if our only home is destroyed.”
Also protesting was Ph.D. student Katie Gregory, representing the Graduate Student Union. Gregory spoke about the grad students’ efforts to unionize, saying that, although in December they had reached a deal with University administration, the union feels there is a connection between the Trump administration and recent delays to the agreement.
“Now that Trump has taken office, we received a recent communication that they need ‘more time’ before finalizing the deal,” Gregory said. “I have to say I do not think this is a coincidence, as it coincides […] with the start of the second Trump term. Trump is […] anti-labor and there is a hostile NLRB [National Labor Relations Board] that has made open stances against graduate students organizing. This administration is certainly taking advantage of this toxic new presidency.”
Senior Elena Perez, who organized the rally, opened and closed the event with speeches urging students to band together.
“I know a lot of people would call this kind of demonstration pointless,” Perez told the Campus Times, “but I think building community is so, so essential, and […] just show people that we’re not alone and there are things that you can do.”
