Trump Supporters Paint Over Memorial Dedicated To 22yo Omega Psi Phi Law Student Who Lost His Life

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41. Here is some information regarding the rock...

The Madison Society: Out of the Box
By Nikki Parrotte ('11), JMU Public Affairs

The Madison Society revealed its true identity and purpose on Tuesday, March 15, by unveiling a "spirit rock" on the east campus meadow adjacent to the construction site of the new biosciences building. The newly formed Madison Society hopes the rock sparks a new JMU tradition—JMU community members showing their JMU spirit by painting the rock.

Rumors swirling around the unexpected placement of a sizable box and mysterious markings around campus were finally put to rest at the afternoon event. "The Madison Society is a group that wants to work toward both initiating, and more importantly, supporting positive traditions through the culture of the JMU community," said Dave Barnes, director of university unions and founder of The Madison Society.

At the event, students, faculty and staff participated in the first ever painting of the rock. Barnes hopes it catches on.

"It was a lot of fun and hopefully in a week people will paint it again," he said. "I want to make sure people know this is not a one-time thing. The whole idea is we want it to be touched as often as people feel inspired and want to do so. . . . People feel so strongly about JMU. There’s got to be some way to share that and to manifest that.

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http://www.jmu.edu/news/2011MadisonSociety2.shtml

Respect the rock: New organization places large rock on Festival Lawn for people to paint messages
Aaron Koepper | Mar 17, 2011

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The Madison Society, a new organization of JMU faculty and administrators, unveiled the rock in the rain at 4 p.m. on Tuesday as part of the organization's goal of maintaining and creating traditions at JMU.

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"It's our hope that student groups will paint the rock in whatever spirit they feel," said Dave Barnes, the director of University Unions and part of the Madison Society's membership committee.


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Barnes said he hoped there would be no vandalism of the rock, citing one central rule.

"We only ask that the community, ‘Respect the rock,' and what it stands for," Barnes said. "We want all to think of it as a positive symbol of the JMU community."

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http://www.breezejmu.org/news/respect-the-rock-new-organization-places-large-rock-on-festival/article_b933399a-502b-11e0-a4d1-0017a4a78c22.html

JMU Spirit Rock repainting lights up social media
By Janson Silvers | Posted: Sat 5:32 PM, Apr 02, 2016 | Updated: Sat 5:34 PM, Apr 02, 2016

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) -- The Spirit Rock at James Madison University was painted Friday night to honor a dead fraternity alumnus, but Saturday morning it was painted-over with "Trump 2016." That's causing an uproar that's trending right now on social media.

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JMU's chapter of the Omega Psi Phi - ΩΨΦ - fraternity said they painted a memorial on the Spirit Rock in honor of one of their brothers --Jeffery Matthews, Jr.-- who died on Tuesday. After hours of painting on Friday night they finished it in time for the vigil on Saturday. They woke up Saturday morning to the rock repainted with support of Donald Trump, and their memorial was gone.

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Bill Wyatt with JMU said, "There are no regulations that govern who paints it and when or for how long the painting lasts."

That vigil for Jeffrey Matthews, Jr., will be held at the Spirit Rock, at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, April 2. Vigil organizers want everyone to know this is all about celebrating his life and who he was as a person.


http://www.whsv.com/content/news/JMU-Spirit-Rock-repainting-lights-up-social-media-374379731.html

From what was in the article and from what was available online regarding the use of the rock it seems fairly clear that painting the rock over with #TrumpTrain and Trump 2016 is a passive-aggressive way to destroy someone else's work - work that had yet to see the light of day. Why else do this in the dark of the night before the other message had even be able to be observed by anyone other than those who had completed the work?

Of course, the most likely answer is that the people who are doing the painting don't want to be exposed as the kind of individuals that they are. It is not like they were alerting the campus to an upcoming Trump event as Trump is campaigning in WI - https://www.donaldjtrump.com/schedule.