Defend Our Students protesters rallying in Cape Girardeau against Trump administration’s policies
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Students and community members rallied together in protest of the Trump administration’s policies that affect higher education institutions.
The College Democrats of Southeast Missouri hosted the Defend Our Students protest that took place at 5:00 p.m. Beginning at the Southeast Missouri State University campus, protesters marched through downtown and back.
“This is what democracy looks like! Tell me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!”
People chanted as they marched up and down Broadway Street.
“Be politically aware. I think that’s the best we can do right now,” demonstrator Apollo Tosto said. “Know your rights. Know the rights that affect other people.”
Protestors expressed criticism of the Trump administration’s cuts to education and research, efforts to dismantle D.E.I. program, and revocation of international students’ visas.
Southeast Missouri State University officials confirmed 24 students and recent graduates had their visas revoked. After Trump reversed his decision, 23 of them were able to get their visas re-instated.
However, with the administration’s frequent back and forth decision making, students said their concerns are still running high.
“I’m scared,” Makayla Plunkett said, “I have a lot of friends who come from many different countries and I don’t know what’s going to happen to them, and I really care. If there’s any way for my voice to be heard, I’m going to do it.”
Despite fear of retaliation, a Norwegian international student spoke at the rally.
“If any international student can stand here and speak up and maybe get away with it, it would be me,” she said, “because I’m a white Scandinavian woman and trump has said very clearly that that’s the kind of person he wants here.”
She said it’s important to stand up for what she believes in.
“Neutrality is not an option,” she said, “not when it comes to human rights. Not when people around me are being told to leave everything that they have built here for reasons as small as traffic violations. Not when silence means complicity.”
