Courtesy of Shatanya Clarke
The Students for a Democratic Society at Florida State University held a “Dump Trump” Piñata Bash Wednesday afternoon in its Free Speech Zone.
The intended purpose of the rally was to raise awareness about FSU Board of Trustee member John Gruters and the decrease in black enrollment.
“Dump Trump!” repeated Regina Joseph, a third-year FSU political science and social work student from Miramar. She was joined by Zachary Schultz, a welding student at Tallahassee Community College, while trying to get the student’s attention at their protest.
“What we are trying to show to the administration is that when it comes to students on campus our consciousness is very much aware,” Joseph said. “Every single thing that is happening we are letting them know that we are ready and we are organized and we actually do take interest in what’s going on in our university.”
Students created a petition demanding Joe Gruters’ immediate resignation. He is a member of FSU’s Board of Trustees as finance chair and according to the flyer, “the main promoter of Trump’s racism in Florida.”
Schultz said that they want to raise awareness to students about Trustee Gruters.
“We need a real student movement here at FSU where students can actually exert what’s best for them,” Schultz said.
He added that it is important to them that students have some control over the university.
Schultz and Joseph agreed that the concern is the students and that their voices are not being heard, they plan to shine a light on the issue.
Regina Joseph then explained that the reason for piñatas is that piñatas would get people interested because it is fun.
“It is also symbolic because it is not like we are actually threatening physical harm against Donald Trump but the fact that we are bashing what Donald Trump represents; capitalism, white supremacy and straight up sexism,” Joseph said.
Katherine Draken, a third-year psychology student from the Netherlands, noticed the decline in black enrollment has over the years and they are trying to raise awareness so the FSU administration can increase this.
First-year FSU social work student, Jada Roberson, from St. Petersburg, said that the protest is definitely informative.
“I never realized what a huge difference it was. There are about 3,000 black people here and there are 41,000 students, so it definitely informs you on what is going on, on campus,” Roberson said.
The SDS is currently working on a getting signatures for the petition to increase black enrollment at the university.
The next rally will be February 16, 2016 where they will be demanding Joe Gruters’ immediate resignation.