The mock border wall, which can be seen here outside the library, is an effort to raise awareness on campus about the complex situation on our country’s southern border right now. The wall features quotes, slogans, and pictures, with information to explain what some of the human and environmental impacts of building a wall along our southern border could have. Small butterfly cut-outs between the information represent the monarch butterfly, an insect whose migratory habits have made it a powerful symbol for the journey and struggles of immigrants along the southern border. The wall, constructed and planned by John Carroll’s Students for Social Justice Organization, urges us to have compassion and “build solidarity not walls.”
While many students share SSJ’s goal of solidarity, some are clearly against it. In the most recent issue of The Carroll News, two students went head to head on their opposing interpretations of the mock wall. One of them, who is pro- SSJ, argued that the mock wall is a clear depiction of students exercising their free speech, and striving to change something they deem unjust. The other student, who is clearly anti-mockwall, believes the demonstration could have been more aggressive. If anything, SSJ definitely made immigration and mock walls key points of discussion around campus.