People commit to pushing the limits of human ability in some strange, extremely specialized endeavors. For example, someone holds the world record for “Most Weight Lifted With Eye Socket,” and “Most Toilet Seats Broken With Head.”
Oklahoma University just decided to set a couple of world records, and their choices weren’t all that bizarre, considering. But what really made these particular attempts stand out, however, is how one student was treated when he attempted to enter the stadium hosting the event with … a pro-Trump sign:
Levi Kell had left the stadium by the time students “set the world record for largest human image of a cloud and largest human image of a lightning bolt,” on March 27, Fox News host Todd Starnes reports.
From the article:
But civil engineering major Levi Kell was not among the students who set the world record inside the university’s football stadium. That’s because Levi was escorted from the premises after he refused to turn over a homemade poster supporting President Trump.
Levi’s sign read, “Trump is our president.” The letters “OU” were colored in Sooner red.
An unnamed woman stopped him and told Levi he would not be allowed to enter the stadium with the sign.
Kell was a guest on Starnes’ Fox News radio show and described the situation.
“She said that Trump is not a positive figure to have on our campus or the Today Show,” Kell said of the woman who told him he couldn’t enter. “I said, ‘Ma’am, it’s just stating a fact — that Trump is our president.”
He was eventually allowed into the stadium, but later told to get rid of his sign. Kell says someone said he “could not have the sign because the letters O and U in red are trademarked by the university.”
The university claims it barred all political signs from the event, stating that they removed a second political poster from the event, and that it was anti-Trump.
But Kell says that there were indeed other signs present during the event, and that they were anti-Trump.
Either not everyone got the message, or one of the two parties here is presenting incorrect information. But considering the current atmosphere on campuses nationwide, and how Trump supporters have a much, much, MUCH better track record of veracity on stories of persecution or harassment, I’m inclined to give Kell the benefit of the doubt.
Considering the event, political statements don’t sound like they would have been appropriate. This sounded like goofy, apolitical fun. Just like eye-socket deadlifting. If, however, Oklahoma University failed to police all political signs, then we have yet another instance of speech being forcibly silenced on a taxpayer-funded campus for not being “progressive.”
Unpopular opinions are the ones that need protecting, of course.
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