A first-year student on Capital’s campus found a vulgar note that had been slipped under his door Wednesday evening as the results of Tuesday’s election continue to make waves throughout the country.
Austin Damman, 18 and a first-year nursing major, returned to his residence hall after class Wednesday to find the note on his floor, which included homophobic slurs and proclaimed “Trump will get you!”
“My stomach dropped,” Damman said of the moment he read the note. “I’d never experienced that backlash before, except in my hometown.”
Damman said he never thought this kind of harassment would occur on Capital’s campus, and he has no idea who could have written the note. He also said that Capital has exceeded his expectations in making him feel safe after the incident.
“They were willing to put me in a whole other spot [to sleep],” he said. “And that really showed me that [Capital] cares about their students.”
These instances of harassment have not been uncommon across the country since Donald Trump’s victory in the election on Tuesday, and it is not difficult to see the division that this election has created.
Many students were already worried about the effects the election would have, and this incident has sparked more unrest among students.
“I’m worried on behalf of my many friends in the LGBTQ+ community, my Muslim friends, and us as women,” said Emily Simonton, a first-year student at Capital, of the fears she has for the coming months. She said that seeing these effects on Capital’s campus only two days after the election was unsettling.
Since the note was found, many people have come out to show their support for Damman through social media and even in person. A group of people made positive notes and put them in his room to show their support for him and their anger at the situation, and Damman said the good has outweighed the bad.
“I may have been knocked down,” Damman said to the person who wrote the note, “but I am still alive, and the sun will rise tomorrow … I’m not going to let this one incident bring me down and ruin everything I’ve worked for.”
