UofL students protest after mistreatment of transgender students

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Protesting the mistreatment of transgender students, dozens gathered on the University of Louisville’s campus Tuesday and called for change.

The protest followed the university released a statement Monday addressing two incidents involving the mistreatment of transgender students.

Put together by the UofL Trans Rights Alliance, created by Calvin Silver and other students after they said a transgender student was harassed by Pike fraternity members at a party.

WAVE News spoke with the student, but she declined an interview.

“To our knowledge, the university had not taken any action,” Silver said. “To our knowledge, the university still has not taken any action. In fact, the fraternity posted something that basically said that they got away with it.”

Pike released a statement on Instagram last week that said they take allegations of discrimination very seriously. The statement goes on to say that they have no active or pending conduct hearings related to their organization.

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“Which doesn’t mean that they didn’t do anything wrong, it just means they didn’t get caught,” Silver said.

After the alleged incident with Pike, Silver and two other students called out the fraternity and the university with chalk.

It led to another incident.

“It sort of culminated with an incident where one of the organizers was pursued into a building by an officer who had been called by the head of grounds keeping, and had the building searched for him,” Silver said.

On Monday, UofL put out a statement saying they are aware of the two incidents. It said they deeply regret them and are concerned that transgender students feel targeted or victimized on their campuses.

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But it was too little, too late for the students at the protest.

“I’m not satisfied with what they have done so far,” student Miles Lanham said. “I’m not satisfied with their statement,”

Lanham was the student involved in the second incident. He said the statement from the university isn’t enough.

“We want an apology, and we want action,” Lanham said. “That’s what we’ve been asking for this entire time.”

After the speakers, the students grabbed some chalk and wrote down slogans and other messages on the campus floor.

“Transphobia is quite literally everywhere, and UofL is doing absolutely nothing to help prevent it,” Silver said.

Silver says they’ve met with the administration multiple times, and said some of them have been helpful, while others have been less friendly.

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