Trump supporter threatens BU students and tells them they ‘better run’
‘I would never wish it upon anyone to read. Ever. Not even Trump’
Seniors Olivia Costanzo and Ian Fitzgerald, were sent disturbing threats on their Facebook accounts on Monday after screenshots of their comments on Trump supporter Nicholas Fuentes were included in a Campus Reform article.
A conservative Facebook account under the name Cal Burke sent the threats. The messages were filled with profanity, racial slurs, homophobic slurs and threats to their safety. Words such as “cunt,” “motherfucker,” “faggot,” and “SPIC” (a racist term referring to a Spanish speaking person) were used repeatedly throughout the threats. Burke furthered the threats saying they would be hunted down on campus and “better RUN.”
“I did not pay attention in class at all because I was just like what the fuck is going on?” said Costanzo, after finally finishing a full day of classes. “I was very shocked and disturbed. Like I said in my post, I would say I’m afraid for my safety to a degree but I do know that it’s just an internet troll account.”
Costanzo and Fitzgerald both posted Facebook status including screenshots of the threats with their stories and reactions. The official BU Tweets twitter account reached out and put Costanzo in contact with Kat Cornetta at the Dean of Students Office.
“I think the gravity of the threat definitely merited letting the police know,” said Costanzo.
Detectives with the BUPD are currently investigating the situation and threats to their safety on campus, and a police report will be completed on November 8.
This all began with BU Today’s edition of YouSpeak: Who I’ll Be Voting For, where 17 students were asked “Who are you voting for for president and why?”
In YouSpeak, Nicholas Fuentes, CAS ’20, explained why he is voting for Trump.
Students, including Costanzo and Fitzgerald, were offended and angered by Fuentes’ opinions and took to Facebook to comment about the video and Fuentes’ remarks.
“Three of [the students in the videos] said they were voting Trump. So why did I only share one of them? A conversation about how problematic and threatening his belief system was needed to happen. It still does,” Fitzgerald said on Facebook.
The Campus Reform article published on November 4 discusses the negative reaction students had to Fuentes’ video. The author of the article, Cameron Westbrook, included screenshots of posts and comments from several BU students’ Facebooks, including Costanzo’s and Fitzgerald’s.
“Sure we weren’t nice, but if anyone was nice regarding the man’s opinions (which includes violent nationalism that makes anyone who isn’t a white American male unsafe), I would be VERY concerned.” said Fitzgerald.
Costanzo and Fitzgerald have contacted Westbrook asking that the article be taken down or their names blurred to stop an further threats but Westbrook refused, replying, “It’s not my job to protect you.”
“Messages that we got by expressing our own opinions on my personal Facebook post. We didn’t threaten anyone. It was sarcastic and satire at best. No matter what jokes my friends and I made, in no way EVER was it worth the article that falsely slandered us being published. And especially, in NO WAY was it worth personalized messages consisting of racial slurs (to Olivia), homophobic language and SAFETY THREATS. Not to mention what he wrote that I censored, which is still… awful,” said Fitzgerald, in a Facebook post on Monday.
He ended the post by urging friends to contact Campus Reform, its editor, and Westbrook to get their attention with complaints about the article.
Despite the threatening messages, Costanzo and Fiztgerald have felt support from members of the BU community and Facebook friends.
“People from high school who I haven’t talked to in four years have reached out and been like ‘this is wrong, this is why people need to vote,'” said Costanzo. “A lot of people have shared my post and been like, ‘this is why you need to vote.’ Although this terrible thing happened to me, I think what has come out of it has been constructive.”
“There is nothing scarier to me right now, than the possibility of people such as #Cal having a leader. Of him having a figure to look up to who validates everything awful he has ever thought, and any behavior they carry out, be it online or in person,” Fitzgerald said in his Facebook post. “This is a last notice as to why we can not hand the country to someone with supporters like this.”