Alvin Grio, an audio production student, plays guitar and sings over shouting protesters to drown out their speeches on Mesa Community College’s Southern and Dobson campus on Feb. 4, 2025. (Luke Hagen/The Mesa Legend)

Right-wing Christian protesters organize on campus grounds

A protest full of hateful rhetoric from a right-wing Protestant group of individuals erupted in the courtyard of the MCC Southern and Dobson campus earlier this morning.

The protests began around 9:30 a.m. and resulted in a gathering of students expressing their outrage. Police were on standby to oversee the incident.

Among the targets of their speeches and picket signs were Muslims, Catholics, Democrats and the LGBTQ+ community. Anti-abortion sentiment and statements declaring women as property were prevalent, as well as the use of slurs.

Students engage in a verbal altercation with a protester on Mesa Community College’s Southern and Dobson campus on Feb. 4, 2025. (Luke Hagen/The Mesa Legend)

The protesters’ actions were protected by the freedom of speech and their right to organize on campus grounds, according to the district’s administrative regulations.

One of the protest coordinators, who refused to disclose his identity, did not provide a specific reason why his group chose MCC for their protest, but crudely likened their reasoning for why they chose to protest to that of a woman making an appointment for an abortion.

“We had to plan it…just like [how] a woman plans an appointment to murder her child with a forethought. So we had to ‘make an appointment,’ each of us, to come together and do this,” he said.

While some interactions between students and protestors were relatively calm and peaceful, many others angrily expressed their disdain for their opposing ideals. 

Some students broke out in song to distract from the protests. One song that garnered cheers from students was “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction, particularly the opening line, “You’re insecure.”

Spectators and counterprotesters surround protesters on Mesa Community College’s Southern and Dobson campus on Feb. 4, 2025. (Luke Hagen/The Mesa Legend)

After some time, a small group of counterprotesters organized near the original group and started making signs. One student even began playing songs on an electric guitar.

Eros Corral Villavicencio, a musical theater major, walked around the crowd to gather personal testimonies on how the protestors have been disruptive to students. Being a member of the LGBTQ+ community, he felt particularly driven to speak his mind.

“Since this new [presidential] administration, I’ve been so scared and feeling so alone. But seeing this counter protest reminded me that there are people out there like me who want what’s best for this community,” Villavicencio stated.

Throughout the protest, MCC Student Life confirmed that one student ignited a fight with a protester before fleeing the scene, at least two students suffered emotional breakdowns and a few students attempted to jump a picketer.

The protesters eventually left the campus around 3 p.m. and stated their intent to return on Wednesday.

A counterprotester next to a protestor spouting hateful rhetoric on Mesa Community College’s Southern and Dobson campus on Feb. 4, 2025. (Luke Hagen/The Mesa Legend)
  • Luke Hagen was a born and raised Arizonan. He has always had an interest in current events, but discovered his love for news writing after taking a journalism elective in his senior year of high school. He hopes to transfer to Arizona State University and eventually attend graduate school for either geography, communication studies or both.

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