On a campus that has been touched by real tragedy, college students at Virginia Tech have joined together to stand and protect Muslim students after a threat to kill them was found scrawled on a bathroom wall last week, reports The Daily Beast.
While the University of Missouri has been in turmoil for almost a week after students felt administrators didn't take threats and harassment against minority students seriously, officials at Virginia Tech took the threat very seriously at a school that saw 32 people slaughtered during a 2007 shooting spree by a student.
After discovering graffiti reading, “I will be here 11/11/2015 to kill all muslims,” earlier in the month, school President Tim Sands wasted no time stepping up security before tweeting out to all students: “Today’s threat may prove to be a cruel prank, but it is an opportunity to stand with our Muslim friends & colleagues. #StrongTogether."
Students have done just that, first creating the hashtags #westandtogether and #hokiesdonthate, before holding a mass rally on campus Tuesday night where the school president stood in solidarity with them.
The students also starred and produced a video representing all races and religions standing up for the campus Muslims saying, "We stand in solidarity because we are not afraid of our diversity."
According to Obaid Rehman, who heads the Muslim student association at Virginia Tech, it was “frustrating and disappointing” to hear about the death threat but he has been heartened by the support of his fellow students and has used it as an opportunity to reach out and discuss their faith.
“We wanted to use light to counter hate so we handed out cookies to our classmates and invited them to ask us questions about our faith,” added Rehman.
Rehman also lauded the joint effort between the students and school administrators to join together and support and protect each other.
“It’s a lesson for school’s across the country in countering hate,” he said.
Watch the student video below uploaded to YouTube:
