Two teenage girls walking on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC, say students harassed them for wearing hats and shirts with President Trump’s signature campaign slogan.
Allie Vandee, a 16-year-old New Jersey high school student, tweeted about her experience at Howard University while touring D.C. with her classmates.
“The students took videos and pictures of us saying WE were being ‘disrespectful’, and that ‘us being Caucasian, we should have known better,’” Vandee wrote on Twitter.
Vandee added that she did not realize the school was “predominantly black,” but said that race “should not matter” in deciding to express political beliefs.
Vandee and her friend Sarah, who were wearing hats bearing Trump’s name and signature campaign slogan, stopped by the campus to have lunch when she said one person told them, “Fuck y’all.”
She added that someone else stole her friend Sarah’s hat.
The trip supervisors eventually suggested that Vandee and her friend eat elsewhere to “keep the peace,” Vandee wrote.
Officials at Howard University, a top-rated historically black college, decided to defend its students instead of their visitors.
Howard University Dining Services said they would “take action” to ensure students “felt safe” in their dining halls.
“We will take any action necessary to ensure that HU students feel safe & comfortable in our dining spaces. This group is no longer on campus,” Howard University Dining Services tweeted.
The university’s official Twitter account also defended its students who allegedly harassed the two teenagers.
“Though this is an institution where freedom of thought, choice, and expression are ever-present, we will never compromise our values or allow others to convince us to do so. We will remain committed to truth and service and boldly affirm who we are and what we stand for,” Howard University wrote in a statement on Twitter. “Thankfully, when visitors set foot on our campus they are met with some of the brightest and best students in our nation. Howard students represent all that is right about America.”
The Howard University NAACP also chimed in, tweeting that they have “no time for white supremacists and neo-nazi sympathizers on campus.”
Vandee said that the harassment did not end at Howard. She said a student on the school bus called her and Sarah “racists” because they wore the hats.
“This is America. These are the people who are being racist and disrespectful,” Vandee said. “It’s unfortunate that Trump supporters have to fear going [some] places [more than] others. I will never be embarrassed for supporting Donald Trump. I will also support our president when, and wherever, I please. #MAGA.”