An Instagram post made by the Illini Republicans depicting the recent federal agent shooting and killing of Alex Pretti garnered negative feedback towards the group.
The graphic, which has since been taken down, was part of a larger social media post created last week, detailing why the organization “stand[s] with ICE.” Over 1,500 comments flooded the comment section, most of which challenged the “only traitors help invaders” sentiment promoted by the registered student organization, or RSO.
Patrick Wade, spokesman for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said in a statement that RSOs are independent from the university.
“They are responsible for managing their own affairs, and their social media accounts represent their own views, not those of the university,” Wade said. “They remain responsible for complying with university policies, but the university cannot discipline them for the viewpoint or content of protected speech.”
Wade also said hate and intolerance are not aligned with the University of Illinois’ values and that the post has been reported to the Title IX Office.
The post appeared hours after more than a thousand students at the University of Illinois and Urbana High School walked out of their classes as part of a nationwide protest against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
Finlay McIntosh, president of the Illini Republicans, said in a statement to IPM News that the organization engages in political expression that is protected for student organizations at a public university.
“Our organization supports an America First approach to public policy, including support for ICE and DHS carrying out their lawful duties under U.S. immigration law,” McIntosh said. “Our advocacy is focused on policy and enforcement of existing law, NOT on targeting or threatening individuals or groups.”
U of I students share reactions to the controversial post – and the university’s handling of it
U of I sophomore Robin Stevens said she came across the post and graphic on Friday.
“The end image, where it’s the image of an ICE officer holding a gun to a citizen or a person, a living, breathing person, and being like, ‘We support that’ — that really got me good,” Stevens said.
She said she felt disgusted by ICE’s actions and is concerned about the Republican Party adopting alt-right perspectives.
“I think that what ICE is doing is really deplorable, and I think that having an established Republican community on campus, supporting that, is not ideal for the state of the Republican Party,” Stevens said.
U of I freshman Luke Gaston said that as a Christian, he believes all humans are made in the image of God.
“I think when we devalue humans like that… we’re truly doing a great wrong,” Gaston said. “As a Christian, I would want to spread so much more love, forgiveness, hope, and peace.”
He said he thinks the graphic was violent and subsequently spread hate.
“We definitely have to watch what we post, especially when we’re representing the University of Illinois and the values that they have,” Gaston said.
Jackson Ward, another U of I freshman, called the post insensitive but said it’s tough to make a call on whether the RSO should be allowed to post content like that.
“I feel like they should be able to post whatever they want because it’s what they believe, but then also, it can be tough because violence could be provoked and bad things can happen from it,” Ward said.
The First Amendment can be tricky to navigate, said U of I junior Jack Hooker, but since the post is “advocating violence against civilians, children, nonviolent people who are just trying to live their lives, I would say they should not really be allowed to post to advocate for that sort of violence.”
Hooker said he had a similar mindset to that of the Illini Republicans post when he was younger and “used to think those sorts of very cynical and nasty things about people, just because of various reasons that had nothing to do with them.”
He said it’s sad to see people stuck in this way of thinking, but he holds onto hope that people can change their minds.
“I hope that someday they can sort of see what’s wrong with what they’re saying and what they’re believing,” Hooker said, “and start using their abilities — as students at a great college, using the resources here, the knowledge they’ll gain here — to start doing good things for the people who need it, instead of continuing to add fuel to the fire against people who don’t deserve it.”
