Northwestern College Republicans began painting The Rock red late Monday evening, just two days after students painted over pro-MAGA messaging on The Rock.
Before the organization started painting, The Rock was covered with a coat of white paint and the message “Cats Against Hate.”
This version of The Rock appeared after students awoke Saturday morning to discover pro-Trump and pro-MAGA messages painted on The Rock overnight, sparking frustration among students and parents.
NUCR President and Weinberg senior Jeanine Yuen said the organization decided to paint The Rock to have their voices heard rather than be condemned by people who may be upset by the results of the recent presidential election.
NUCR members originally planned on painting “MAGA” on The Rock, but after speaking to a group of around 40 students who were against the MAGA message gathered there, they decided to change the message to “NUCR 4 Unity.”
“As president, I do think we should be putting MAGA, and we should be putting something to support the president-elect,” Yuen said. “But we are a club that hears people out, and if people feel so strongly that they want a message of unity instead, we will also include that.”
Other NUCR members were more inclined to listen to students who had congregated and were against their planned message.
Weinberg sophomore Gabriel Bayer, the treasurer of NUCR, said he is not a big Trump supporter but that he was upset by the previous pro-Trump message being replaced days ago. After speaking with students, Bayer said he felt more inclined to change the message to promote unity and the club — instead of a Trump-specific message.
“We could have had an opportunity for revenge,” Bayer said, “But we got the community talking, and I think it’s a really beautiful thing to see people come together with people they disagree with and put out a message of unity.”
The act was immediately met with opposition.
Communication freshman Kyle Vetter and Weinberg freshman Jacob Benitez, two students who painted the “Cats Against Hate” message, said they felt the new message failed to achieve its purpose of conveying unity.
Vetter said it felt ironic to him that NUCR painted over a previous message of what he described as non-partisan unity to write a message of unity from a narrower perspective.
At one point, a student went up to The Rock, picked up a paint roller with red paint still on it and began to cover up the NUCR message. The student ran away, and Yuen picked up a white spray can and wrote “MAGA.” The Rock then read “MAGA Unity.”
“One of the reasons we were trying to convince them to say unity instead was that we thought just saying MAGA would not promote a discussion, and I think that doing that, as much as I agree with his message, is not going to promote a discussion,” said NU College Democrats Programming Director and Communication sophomore Aditi Adve in reaction to the student’s actions. “It’s kind of discounting all of our efforts that we’ve been making over the last hour.”
Republican and Democrat students debated a range of political issues from abortion rights to tariffs around The Rock from 10 p.m. until midnight. Students began to disperse, and many ended their conversations with handshakes and goodbyes. Around 12:30 a.m., unidentified students returned to The Rock and partially covered the writing with red paint.
The Rock’s messaging has undergone various changes since. Currently, the center is a star made out of black tape covering the remains of “MAGA.”
Previously, the bench surrounding The Rock said, “Only when it’s dark enough can you see the stars,” a quote from Vice President Kamala Harris’ concession speech. This message has been repainted on the bench.
“At the end of the day, they did camp out for 24 hours, so they can do what they want,” Vetter said. “We appreciate that they took our opinions to heart.”
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