How to Win a Campus Holy War
Last spring, a holy war began brewing on Colorado State University’s campus. It’s not nearly as bloody, violent or fierce as the holy wars of generations past, but there is a recurring theological battle that keeps propping itself up on college campuses nationwide. CSU was just the latest battleground.
It’s become something of a tradition at CSU for a set of Bible-wielding, cargo short-clad, middle-aged white men to arrive on campus at the start of every semester. They prop themselves in the center of campus and shout at students walking by, claiming that queer, transgender, and leftist students are headed for eternal damnation lest they repent.
The crowds surrounding the preachers became less about the hateful rhetoric spewing from their mouths and more about the various unorthodox counter protests from all kinds of students.
The preachers’ hateful rhetoric has caused widespread debate and controversy at CSU surrounding the notions of free speech and hate speech. In wake of the preachers’ arrival on campus in September of 2021, the CSU administration tried to toe the line between hate speech and free speech, offering a lukewarm statement that didn’t declare full-blown support for the preachers’ right to be on campus nor for the student’s right to feel comfortable at their own school.
The message from the administration to the school’s students felt clear: You guys are on your own.
That hands-off energy from the CSU administration has left the students in a unique position. Instead of counting on the school to handle the notions of hate speech and harassment for them, CSU students have taken a unique approach to fighting in this small holy war. Rather than fully engaging in shouting matches, bad-faith debates or ignoring the preachers’ hatred altogether, the CSU community has responded with comedy.
There is one prerequisite that all die-hard preachers have to fill: They have to take themselves incredibly seriously. I mean, they are transcribing the alleged word of God, after all. Because of the supposed weight of their words, the preachers are almost always armed with megaphones, which makes it almost impossible to meet them on their own playing field. That predicament is what gave rise to a lighthearted, somewhat-mocking response from CSU students.
Over the course of the two days the preachers were on campus, students were busting out breakdance moves, posting memes, serenading the crowd with saxophone music, holding up a myriad of comedic signs and even dressing up as Spider-Man to do gymnastics around the preachers.
The tactics worked, as the crowds surrounding the preachers became less about the hateful rhetoric spewing from their mouths and more about the various unorthodox counterprotests from all kinds of students.
It’s a genius way to protest when you think about it. Rather than stooping to the level the preachers are on, engaging in debates the preachers themselves don’t seem to want to engage in or otherwise lending them credibility they don’t deserve, having fun with the situation is a much more effective way to protest the preachers’ rhetoric.
If nothing else, the counterprotests seemed to spark a sense of community that CSU hasn’t had in quite some time. Between a global pandemic, multiple divisive national election cycles and mostly subpar performances from almost all of the school’s sports teams, there hasn’t been much for CSU to rally around recently. All it took to change that was a handful of preachers, a Spider-Man costume and a saxophone.
Note: This article was initially published to The Rocky Mountain Collegian in May 2022. This is an edited version of the original article.
