ANN ARBOR, MI — Hundreds of University of Michigan students have
 turned around the rallying cry of anti-Donald Trump “not my president” protesters with an online petition — #NotMyCampus — that calls out U-M President Mark
Schlissel as not only anti-Trump, but also unsympathetic to students
who say they have been targeted because they voted for the president-
elect.
Some conservative leaning students who signed the petition said they
 feel marginalized and, in some cases, unsafe because they voted for
Trump. Others accused Schlissel and university officials of coddling
students rather than helping preparing them for the real, post-college
 world where things may not always go their way.
Schlissel spent about an hour giving solace to U-M students who were
 dismayed by Trump’s election last week, classes were canceled and
exams rescheduled in some cases, and counselors were made available
 to students who felt overwhelmed by the outcome of the election.
Your voices worked out to be a 90/10 decision in favor of the
 unsuccessful candidate yesterday,” Schlissel said at the post-election
 rally to promote love and equality, according to video footage posted
 on YouTube by The Michigan Daily, the campus newspaper. “Ninety
percent of you rejected the kind of hate and the fractiousness and the
 longing for some sort of idealized version of a nonexistent yesterday
 that was expressed during (Trump's) campaign.”

In a campus email alert Sunday co-signed by seven administrators,
Schlissel did address harassment directed at students who voted for
 Trump who were “shouted out and accused of being racist because
of their political views.”
But the missive focused primarily on a spate of hateful attacks on or 
near campus directed mainly at minority students. Among the incidents
 he cited were a report of a Muslim student who was threatened she
 would be lighted on fire because she wore a hijab, and another
 student ho said that he left his apartment to go to class, he
 discovered a swastika with a message telling him to go home.
  • “Stop it,” President-elect Donald Trump said in a direct appeal t
  • o his supporters on “60 Minutes” Sunday.
Schlissel and his co-signers expressed hope that “all members of our
community can agree that we must not stand silent while facing
expressions of bigotry, discrimination or hate that have become part
 of our national political discourse,” and said that “only by speaking
 out against personal attacks, hate and threats can we move on to have
the discussions that will be necessary for our campus and our nation
 to reach its full potential.”

“Diversity is Ugly”

By mid-day Tuesday, about 350 students had signed an online petition
criticizing Schlissel and other university officials. More than 60 pages
 of personal statements were included with the signatures.
Diversity isn’t a one-way street, wrote Frank Morton, a senior business
 major.
“I detest Donald Trump’s views on many issues,” he wrote, but as long
 as Trump’s supporters don’t engage in violence, “they have the right to
 exist on this university without being belittled by the administration.”
“Diversity is ugly,” he wrote. “It is more than Title IX, scarier than
LGBTQ acceptance, and by definition encompasses beliefs at odds
 with prevailing wisdom.”
Conner Marion, who is studying statistics, accused Schlissel and other
 university officials of creating an atmosphere where he and other
Trump supporters are unsafe. He denounced attacks like that one
reported by the Muslim student who said she was forced to remove

 her hijab, but said intimidation against Trump supporters don’t seem
to rise to the same level of concern.

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“I wear my hat with Trump's slogan on it, ‘Make America Great Again,’
around campus and I might as well be in full KKK ensemble judging by
 how I am treated,” he wrote. “There could have been 100 crime alerts
sent out for what has happened to me in the past week if they were
 sending them out in accordance to what justifies a crime alert for
other demographics that are apparently more deserving of the
university’s support. ...
“I will be walking around in the light of day, proudly supporting the
next president of the United States, minding my own business, and
 I have been called every name in the book. I have been shoved, had
my hat thrown off my head, drinks dumped on me, things knocked out
 of my hand, been spit on, been told to kill myself, get the (expletive)
 off this campus, and much, much more,” he wrote. “These actions
 were performed by fellow students, in the presence of fellow students,
and not even once has anyone stepped in to defend me, ask the
aggressor to step down, or offer me any sort of support. …
“This is the kind of campus you are creating. …”
Lincoln Merrill, an engineering student who expects to graduate in 2020, wrote that he was attracted to the school because its diversity would spark debate and inspire intellectual thinking. He’s disillusioned now, he wrote:
“The diversity the University promotes and the ideals it preaches are not, I have recently learned, intended to protect everyone. Rather, it exists as an attempt to target, change, and convert specific viewpoints based on the perfect yet unachievable vision the University has to create a student body that solely consists of people who reject those who may believe certain things. I voted for Donald J. Trump for president, and I feel as though the University does not care for the ideas that I can contribute to this campus because of it. I am not a racist. I am not a bigot. I am just a kid from New England who got into this university just like everyone else. …”
He said Schlissel’s email was “just another action the university has taken to try to undermine those who do not have the same ideals as those the university so vigorously protects.”

“You Are Perpetuating the Problem”

Lauren Neumann, a junior business major, accused the university of coddling students who were upset by the election’s outcome and said it’s time to accept the results and move on.
“Providing students with extensions because of the election results is doing students a disservice. The real world will continue to function. If an employee does not attend work because of an election later in life, they will be fired,” she wrote, then added:
“Finally, President Schlissel, by continually sending emails and promoting programs about diversity, equality, and inclusion, you are perpetuating the problem. When children are born they do not recognize there is a difference in skin color. This is taught to them by people like you. If race is not an issue, why do you make it one?
“The United States has spoken. Let us see what we can do with respect for each other, respect for the family, and respect for humanity.”
Sophomore Sam Junge got right to students’ point: “If Trump is not your
 president, then perhaps you aren’t mine.”
Photo by Jason Crotty via Flickr Commons