Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
The Post - Athens, OH
The independent newspaper covering campus and community since 1911.
The Post
Freshman media studies major Sean Callahan pies "Donald Trump" at Howard Park on North Green on Wednesday, August 24, 2016. Members of Next Gen Climate were at the event to register people to vote and raffled off a Donal Trump cutout. (CARL FONTICELLA | PHOTO EDITOR)

'Trump' barraged with pies in his face

Correction appended.

Wednesday morning, businessman Donald Trump could be seen on campus longboarding and being pied by Ohio University students.

No, it wasn’t the real Republican Presidential nominee, who campaigned in Tampa on Wednesday, but that didn’t stop students from voicing their opinion about the controversial political figure.

“No racism, no hate, I’m with her,” Nate Breidenbaugh, a senior studying music, said referring to Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, before throwing a pie at a dancing "Trump."

Members of NextGen Climate Ohio, a satellite political activist group looking for “clean-alternative energy”, allowed students to pie a member of their group wearing a Trump mask and pretending to be the Republican nominee.

Trump has called climate change a "hoax," according to a New York Times article, and in his Democratic National Convention Speech he said he would "lift the restrictions on the production of American energy."

Students who participated signed a raffle to win a Trump cutout and also a chance to register to vote if they haven’t already.

NextGen Climate Ohio spokesperson David Miller said the group wanted OU students to get more involved in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

“NextGen Climate Ohio is active on campuses around the state, and OU is one of our more active campuses,” Miller said. “We’re just trying to meet college students and millennials where they are: around campus or on campus and come up with unique ideas to get people interested and excited about the election.”

And students did get involved Wednesday morning.

Between classes, dozens of students threw shaving cream pies while lobbing politically charged comments.

Neelam Khan, a junior studying integrated media and a former Post columnist, said “F*ck Trump” before stuffing the fake Trump in the face.

Moments later, passengers in a car driving down Union Street yelled out, “F*ck Hillary Clinton,” as students walking in and out of Schoonover looked on.

“It was almost as good as pieing the real candidate,” Sean Callahan, a freshman studying media studies, said.

OU College Republicans President Dave Parkhill said he welcomed the event — even calling it “funny” — but questioned whether or not Democratic students and activists would approve of a “pieing of Hillary Clinton”.

The College Republicans have not yet decided to endorse Trump.

“I don’t think, or at least I hope, you don’t have Republicans, or conservatives or Trump supporters that are going to throw a fit,” Parkhill said. “They have a first amendment right, as we tried to blow up last year when we painted the wall ... and if the folks hosting this event feel that is their way to express their freedom of speech, hey, I’m all about it.

“I would just want to ask: if we hosted a similar event, I bet you would have a lot of liberals come throw a fit, ‘Oh, she’s a woman, this is sexist, how dare you, she’s running for president,’” he added.

@Lukeoroark

Lr514812@Ohio.edu

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the group that has not yet endorsed Donald Trump. The article has been updated to show the most accurate information.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2016-2024 The Post, Athens OH