Aaron Rhodes

Editor-in-chief

arhodes2@jccc.edu

Several passersby were accosted by a student on campus Thursday morning holding a sign that read “LOCK HER UP!” in reference to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The student stood in the courtyard in between classes engaging with other students on the subject of the upcoming election.

Blake McNinch, student, was holding the sign. He explained that it was in reference to the crimes that many allege that Clinton has committed throughout her career.

“A lot of people in my generation don’t know the full history of Hillary Clinton, but it goes way back,” McNinch said. “Most recently, the scandal that blows Watergate out of the water is Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Hillary Clinton mishandled classified information on that server. That’s already got some people killed. Look up the Iranian scientist.”

McNinch also cited several other claims about Clinton including her alleged White House thefts, the death of Vince Foster and her work at the Rose Law Firm among other reasons to oppose her. McNinch said he believes it’s important that he protest on campus due to bias towards Clinton in the media.

“Someone’s got to do it. It’s a grassroots movement. We saw it with Bernie Sanders and we’re seeing it with Trump now,” McNinch said. “Americans are taking this country back … It’s efforts like this, people just doing what they can, talking to who they can … There’s no official Trump table set up on campus. It’s a student out of their own initiative.”

McNinch said several police officers approached him while he was outside speaking to a student this morning. McNinch said the officers informed him that they had received complaints about him and that he was possibly creating a hostile environment. McNinch said they gave him the option to speak with a dean about the issue and took him to his office, but the dean was unavailable at the time.

“[The police] were really on top of it, they handled everything very respectfully. I was really respectful of them,” McNinch said.

Jordan Seiger, student, interacted with McNinch during his time standing in the courtyard Thursday.

“I saw him being escorted by a bunch of officers and I was actually interested in what his sign said,” Seiger said. “Being kind of neutral within the situation of political affiliation, I wanted to know more of what he had to say.”

Campus Police declined to comment on their involvement.

Andrew Hartnett contributed to this report