Eastern Michigan University students took action to repair a pride flag on campus after vandals destroyed the display Tuesday night.
Today is also Spirit Day, a national effort to raise awareness about the thousands of students who are targeted for harassment because of perceptions about their sexual or gender identity.
Chase Anderson, a sophomore at EMU and the events coordinator for the university LGBT Resource Center, says she hasn’t experienced harassment on campus until the incident Tuesday night.
Anderson says,
“Our pride flag was vandalized. That’s the first...pushback that I’ve ever seen on campus.”
She says the incident is unusual because Eastern Michigan University is nationally ranked as an inclusive school for LGBT students. On Wednesday morning another group of EMU students discovered the vandalism and repaired the damage. "To many people it [the pride flag] means love and acceptance and tolerance and respect," Anderson says. "The fact that’s it’s instantly back up is really heartwarming.”
Anyone with information about the vandalism of the pride flag is asked to contact campus police.
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- Amanda LeClaire is an assignment reporter, and anchor for 89.1 WEMU News. Contact her at 734.487.3363 or email her: aleclair@emich.edu
