Campus preachers return, spark protests, debates

Collegian | Cat Blouch

First-year zoology students Jake Byrd and Caroline Distel stand on The Plaza outside the Lory Student Center at Colorado State University April 18. Byrd and Distel wore pride flags as an act of protest against ideology from evangelical preachers who came to The Plaza.

Cat Blouch, News Reporter
April 20, 2022

The Lory Student Center Plaza once again became a frenzy of protest, debates and conversations with the return of campus preachers who have long stoked controversy on campus, especially in an instance last fall, when their demonstrations were met with a sizable student counterprotest.

“Once the weather gets nice, these preachers decide to just come back to campus,” said Leora Greene, a fourth-year student at Colorado State University studying psychology. Greene was one of the many students who gathered on The Plaza Monday. 

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First-year computer science major Matthew Schimmel said the Monday stir was started by two preachers who frequent college campuses as a public forum to preach the Christian gospel. While some students like Schimmel viewed the campus preachers as a form of evangelism, others believed the actions of the preachers were discriminatory in nature.

“(The preacher) has been picking out people … and harassing them, basically,” said Caroline Distel, a first-year zoology student.

While it is difficult to tell why, Monday drew in a large crowd from the student body — a reaction that repeated itself Tuesday. While some gathered out of curiosity, others joined in and objected to the evangelical notions expressed by the campus preachers, which included ideology that goes against the LGBTQ+ community.

“There’s a bunch of people going around protesting, kind of having debates, asking him questions and everything about his beliefs,” Distel said.

Distel, along with another first-year zoology student Jake Byrd, donned LGBTQ+ flags as a form of protest. Others, like first-year computer science student Ian Lucht, had more unorthodox methods of objection. Lucht carried around his saxophone, playing short tunes to drown out the words of the preachers.

The theme of counterprotest from the student body continued through the next day, when preachers once again drew a crowd. Students also frequently engaged the preachers with humor and jokes about sex in response to comments from the preacher that college women would lose value as they aged as well as antagonistic comments about the LGBTQ+ community.

“I know that evangelism, the spreading of Christianity, is a positive thing. However, I think this particular format of it has brought out a lot of ugly behavior.” –Matthew Schimmel, first-year computer science major

But students have mixed feelings about the preachers and how the University should address them. Raegan Sisk, a first-year equine science student, believes the actions of The Plaza preachers shouldn’t be sanctioned because they’re not actions of free speech.

Byrd also followed this notion when he spoke of the personal impact The Plaza preachers have had on his experience at the University, saying part of the college experience was having the opportunity to escape bad situations at home, only to realize the CSU campus also isn’t safe from these actions and ideologies.

Schimmel, who is Christian, also had conflicting thoughts about the event.

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“I know that evangelism, the spreading of Christianity, is a positive thing,” Schimmel said. “However, I think this particular format of it has brought out a lot of ugly behavior.”

Despite the conflicting opinions — from students who believe the preachers’ actions should be condemned as hate speech to those students who believe it should receive the same protections as free speech — many students are eager for the University to respond, especially as these incidents become more frequent.

  • Keith Darrell, a preacher who travels the United States to speak on college campuses regarding his religious beliefs, debates with students on The Plaza outside the Lory Student Center at Colorado State University April 18. Darrell drew in a crowd after expressing many evangelical ideologies. (Collegian | Cat Blouch)

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  • Leora Greene, a senior psychology student at Colorado State University, stands on The Plaza outside the Lory Student Center April 18. Greene was observing the protests and discussions that began when preachers came onto the CSU campus. “I’m Jewish, so we don’t believe in proselytizing to people and speaking the gospel like Christians typically do,” Greene said. “So for me, I just don’t understand it on a separate level, but I think it would be one thing if they were coming to just share messages of love as people were walking across campus, but instead they’re just kind of yelling at people.” (Collegian | Cat Blouch)

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  • First-year computer science major Matthew Schimmel stands on The Plaza outside the Lory Student Center at Colorado State University April 18. Schimmel was part of a group that gathered after preachers came onto campus. “CSU ought to encourage students to act in ways that are responsible and mature,” Schimmel said when reflecting on the crowd that gathered in response to the espousing of religious ideology from the preachers. (Collegian | Cat Blouch)

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  • First-year zoology students Jake Byrd and Caroline Distel stand on The Plaza outside the Lory Student Center at Colorado State University April 18. Byrd and Distel participated in a protest started by students challenging ideology from preachers who came to the University. Byrd and Distel explained wearing flags from the LGBTQ+ community was a part of their protest. (Collegian | Cat Blouch)

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  • First-year computer science major Ian Lucht and first-year equine science major Raegan Sisk stand outside of a crowd that formed at The Plaza outside the Lory Student Center at Colorado State University April 18. Lucht and Sisk were part of a group of students protesting the actions of preachers who had come onto The Plaza. “These hateful Christian preachers came on to our campus and started spreading hate, and because of that we managed to gather around to start a protest,” Sisk said. Lucht explained he used his saxophone as a way to protest the behavior of the preachers, noting it helped drown out the sound of their evangelizing. (Collegian | Cat Blouch)

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Reach Cat Blouch at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @blouchcat.