<p>Sidewalk chalk is a common form of expression and advertisement at many college campuses throughout the US. Atlanta&rsquo;s Emory University is no different. But this week when &ldquo;Vote Trump&rdquo; and &ldquo;Trump 2016&rdquo; messages appeared on benches, sidewalks, and stairs, students felt &ldquo;pain,&rdquo; &ldquo;fear,&rdquo; and &ldquo;frustration.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s college campuses today,&#8221; laments junior Josh Goodman. ;</p>
<p>Dozens of students showed up outside the administration building this week to protest, claiming the pro-Trump messages were akin to &ldquo;violent action.&rdquo; Other said they were &ldquo;traumatized.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m supposed to feel comfortable and safe [here],&rdquo; said one female student. &ldquo;But this man is being supported by students on our campus and our administration shows that they, by their silence, support it as well&hellip;I don&rsquo;t deserve to feel afraid at my school.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;How can you not [disavow Trump] when Trump&rsquo;s platform and his values undermine Emory&rsquo;s values that I believe are diversity and inclusivity?&rdquo; asked another student. ;</p>
<p>After meeting with nearly 50 concerned students, University President Jim Wager has promised to review security footage to identify the &ldquo;culprit(s).&rdquo; Trespassing charges will be filed if the messages were written by non-students, while Emory students will face the &#8220;conduct violation process&#8221; for spreading pro-Trump sentiment. ;</p>
<p>Goodman says he&rsquo;s disappointed to hear that Wager plans to &ldquo;legitimize&rdquo; these protestors instead of standing up for their First Amendment rights. The school&#8217;s president has ;reassured his students that Emory is  ;&ldquo;committed to an environment where the open expression of ideas and open, vigorous debate and speech are valued, promoted and encouraged.&rdquo;</p>
<p>But &ldquo;was it really just a message about a political preference, a candidate preference, or was it a harsher message? I will tell you, those who met with me were genuine in their concerns that it was the latter.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Meanwhile, nothing has been said or done about pro-Bernie Sanders or Black Lives Matter chalk messages.</p>