On Friday night, Jonah Wendt and a handful of other Trinity University students went door to door in the dorms, distributing 600 fliers for an upcoming speech by conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza.

Set for March 7, the lecture was organized by Tigers for Liberty, a conservative student group founded last February by Wendt and his twin brother, Manfred.

By Saturday morning, a thick stack of the handbills had been returned to the campus suite the Wendts share. “We fixed them,” declared an attached post-it note. Two small American flags that the brothers keep pinned outside their doors had also been turned upside down. When the pair fanned out the fliers later that morning, they realized every single one — all 228 — had been written on in various shades of permanent marker. “Immigrants.” “No ban.” “The people will fight back.”

On the back of one flier, a short letter had been written:“We’re okay if you make yourselves look bad. However when you bring controversial speakers to Trinity and put Trinity in a bad light. It effects [sic] all of our reputations and makes all of us look bad. We work hard to keep our reputations looking nice and we don’t need you messing them up.”

Though Jonah Wendt largely chalked the incident up as an immature “hissy fit” and anti-Trump “liberal projection,” he and his brother still filed a report with campus police, alleging harassment. Wendt feels slightly uncomfortable that students who clearly do not like him know where he lives.

“This is a clear attempt at intimidation,” Wendt said.

Trinity takes claims of harassment seriously and is looking into the incident, said university spokeswoman Sharon Jones Schweitzer.

“The university works very hard to create an environment in which a variety of perspectives are allowed to be expressed,” she said. “The Tigers for Liberty event is an example of that.”

D’Souza is behind provocative films such as “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party” and “2016: Obama’s America.” He has been labeled by some as a conspiracy theorist. In 2014, D’Souza pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign contribution laws, for which he was sentenced to eight months in a San Diego community confinement center.

Tigers for Liberty chose D’Souza for his articulation of conservative ideals and to demonstrate diversity in conservatism, in light of his background as an Indian immigrant. Most of the topics scrawled on the fliers were directed at Trump’s agenda, not D’Souza’s, Wendt said.

Maddie Kennedy, co-president of Trinity Progressives, said she was disappointed to hear about the incident. While she does not support D’Souza or his work, she said the Wendt brothers should not have to face personal attacks.

The incident at Trinity comes as political tensions have reached a boiling point across the nation. The election of President Donald Trump ushered in a rash of student demonstrations, including pushback against conservative speakers sharing their views at colleges and universities. Earlier this month, the University of California, Berkeley canceled an appearance from right-wing activist Milo Yiannopoulos after protests turned violent. In December, hundreds of students at Texas A&M University peacefully demonstrated when Richard Spencer came to campus.

Instead of defacing an organization’s message, Trinity political science professor John Hermann said he would rather see students engage in meaningful dialogue or actively support the causes touted on the returned fliers. At Trinity, as is the case on many college campuses, Republicans remain an “insular and discrete minority,” he said. Until students with conflicting beliefs actively listen to each other, Hermann said, campus — and, more broadly, the country — will remain divided.

“It seems we’re talking through each other, not to each other, right now,” Hermann said.

For his part, Wendt hopes the incident will bring increased attention to D’Souza’s visit to campus.

“Hopefully it’s a full crowd for Dinesh on March 7,” he said.

lcaruba@express-news.net