American University College Republicans are facing University involvement after sharing a post that some say pushes harmful rhetoric against Haitian immigrants.
The post on X, originally posted by the House Judiciary GOP, features an AI-generated image of former President Donald Trump holding a cat and a duck with the caption “Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio!” This post was reposted to the AUCR Instagram story on Sept. 17 with the caption “Trump will save the kittens and ducks!”
The post was made in reference to a false comment made by Trump during the Sept. 10 presidential debate, claiming that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are stealing and eating residents’ pets.
Phia Joseph, a Haitian-American and senior in the School of Public Affairs, said that their initial reaction to Trump’s comment was “definitely confusion.”
“I saw this article, they were saying how JD Vance knowingly is aware that Haitians don't eat cats and dogs, but he continues to spread this rhetoric…” Joseph said. “And hearing that someone thought that and said it in such a public way was really scary. My dad was born in Haiti… my mom is a daughter of a Haitian immigrant. My whole family's Haitian. So it's really scary to think about the way they can be affected by this.”
Upon learning about the post, Joseph reached out to University President Jonathan Alger, the Center for Student Involvement and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion saying that the post “is not freedom of speech, but blatant racism,” according to an email obtained by The Eagle.
According to a statement from the Springfield Police Division, “There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
Gracemary Allen, a member of the University’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America and a graduate student in SPA, said that she and her friends “audibly groaned” while watching the presidential debate.
“We were thinking he was gonna bring it up… and when he did, it was just awful,” Allen said. “And it got worse when I saw the amount of threats that have been put in Springfield, but not just in Springfield, like towards immigrants all across the country.”
Joseph is worried about the “real-life implications” that this claim and the subsequent meme-ification of the moment will have on Haitian immigrants nationwide.
“I think we often think in the macrocosm of the internet, you can kind of say anything you want and it’ll get lost, right?” Joseph said. “But the thing with this rhetoric that Republicans are spreading is that it’s not getting lost. It’s getting pinned, essentially, to the entire country and everyone’s thinking about it, everyone’s saying something, and it has an effect whether we like it or not.”
According to CNN, Springfield local officials have received over 30 threats of violence following the second presidential debate. Ohio’s director of the Department of Public Safety Andy Wilson said in a news conference that the office receives “multiple bomb threats” every day.
Joseph said they have already met with Raymond Ou, the vice president of Student Affairs, and heard from Matt Galewski, the senior associate director for training and development in CSI. According to an email obtained by The Eagle, Galewski said “we are meeting with College Republicans to address the matter.”
According to Assistant Vice President and Deputy Chief Communications Officer Elizabeth Deal, CSI addresses concerns related to student organizations, along with other campus partners, through “education, corrective actions, and collaboration to promote compliance and improvement.”
“The Center for Diversity and Inclusion [and CSI] often collaborate on educational programming for students, while CSI is responsible for directly addressing them,” Deal said. “In cases where policy violations are identified, the Office of Student Accountability and Restorative Practices is primarily responsible for addressing organizational misconduct as defined in the code of conduct.”
AUCR did not respond to The Eagle’s request for comment.
“I believe in freedom of speech. I understand why a club like AU Republicans exists…” Joseph said. “But I don’t believe it’s acceptable to say things like that. There’s definitely a difference between freedom of speech and hate speech.”
Allen said she was surprised there wasn’t “more public backlash” to the post.
“It's insane to me that that kind of rhetoric is apparently fine, even though we have super restrictive free speech policies for campus groups and stuff,” Allen said.
When asked what they would say to Haitian-Americans on AU’s campus, Joseph said that they view their upbringing as a Haitian-American as a “source of pride.”
“My grandpa, he immigrated his entire family. He uprooted everything,” Joseph said. “Having to leave all that, all you’ve ever known, that’s a whole admirable thing in my opinion.”
Joseph also stressed the importance of being there for your Haitian friends and family.
“We are all in a very tumultuous place. Haitian-Americans are being told in this new country we came to that we don’t belong here,” Joseph said. “It’s a really really scary time for a lot of Haitians… so just be there for your Haitian friends right now.”
This article was edited by Sydney Hsu, Olivia Wood and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Ariana Kavoossi and Ella Rousseau.
