The Potential MAGA Club at CCNY
Words by Dustin Graziano
Raisa Shurat is a psychology student at CCNYwho is part of a small group of people that are trying to get a Trumpsupporters’ club started here at CCNY. The “MAGA,” or Make America Great Again,Club has not yet been established, partially due to the trouble these studentshave had with finding a sponsor on campus. However, Raisa and the others, ledby student Ian Brinkley who did not wish to comment on the matter, have beencarrying out political experiments to try and raise awareness of what Raisarefers to as “closeted conservatives.”
“We decided to make a poster that says ‘CCNYConservative Club holds a pro-Trump rally,’ and then we posted it all over theschool. Within an hour, all of our posters were torn down. We found them rippedup and in the trash,” said Raisa. She also claimed that when they caughtsomeone taking down the posters and asked the person why they were doing so,the individual replied, “because I’m scared of having a Nazi club on campus.”
Raisa and the others did not stop there. Foranother experiment, the team wanted to have someone stand outside of theArchitecture building while holding a Bernie Sander’s sign and shoutingpro-Bernie statements, and then on a different day, they wanted someone rootingfor President Trump so that they could compare the reactions they received fromstudents on campus. Raisa volunteered to be that someone as she claimed thatthe other students were hesitant due to a fear of social outcasting.
“When I was holding the Bernie sign, everyonethat passed by was very friendly and smiling,” said Raisa. There were only afew students that passed by on that day, however, during the second part of theexperiment there was a fire drill and hundreds of students were outside towitness Raisa as a Trump supporter. Raisa continued, “I stood outside with aTrump hat and a sign that said ‘white supremacy is a myth…’ So many studentsstarted harassing me. Recording me on their phones, calling me names, sayingthat I’m a disgrace to my people… One girl threatened to beat me up and had tohave her friend stop her… When it was done, I had to go upstairs to file acomplaint to the Public Safety office because a man kept following me aroundand harassing me.”
“I don’t think it’s right that people incollege are afraid to voice their opinions... Trump supporters here are afraidto speak out because they immediately get stereotyped as a racist or a bigot…How are you going to get an actual conversation started that way? People shouldargue with logic and understanding, not with emotion,” said Raisa.
Looking forward, Raisa claimed that she andthe other students behind these experiments will be trying to get the MAGA Clubregistered as an official CCNY club. All they need is a club sponsor. PoliticalScience Professor Richard Bernstein was previously asked to sponsor the club,but he declined; mostly due to his already busy workload, but partly due to hisown beliefs. When asked about his thoughts on the experiments, ProfessorBernstein said, “I think there’s a difference between protesting and provoking…People can be free to express their opinions, but are they hurting others whiledoing so? You need to know your audience… I mean, what are you really trying to prove with experimentslike these?”
“I encourage more conservative students tospeak out on campus. Even if people are threatening you, harassing you, orstereotyping you, it’s your right to have an opinion... I also encourage peopleto calm the hell down when they are hearing an opinion they don’t agree with.Just have a conversation,” said Raisa in her call to closeted conservatives,and to anyone who might be trying to express their thoughts and feelings oncampus as well.
The reason for these social experiments isbecause Raisa and the other students working together with Ian feel that thereis a problem with conservative students not being able to voice their opinionsin class and on campus. Raisa claimed that she isn’t even a Trump supporter,but that she was mainly inspired to participate because she saw a student getshot down and “booed” in one of her class’s for mentioning his politicalthoughts on the wage gap between men and women of the United States.
