Washed away: The story of CSU’s chalk, change, and controversy over free speech

By Matthew Horn and Ava Fricke
The Ramspondents 

On the morning of Oct. 7, Colorado State University students awoke to find their words scrawled in chalk across the Plaza being power-washed into oblivion. What followed was a whirlwind of administrative reversals, student protest and a reckoning with the very ideals CSU claims to uphold: shared governance and free expression. 

Marc Barker, the assistant vice president for Safety and Risk Services at CSU, was “threatening people with trespassing for chalking on the Plaza,” said Jelicity Luna, ASCSU’s Director of Governmental Affairs. "The facility was washing off the chalk with tanks of water." 

The sweeping removal followed the quiet implementation of a new university policy on Aug. 14, a date strategically chosen, according to students, just 10 days before fall semester began, when most were still away from campus. 

The night of Oct. 7, a faculty council meeting was held. The Faculty Council is the representative body for the academic faculty in shared governance at CSU. The Faculty Council, subject to statutes of the state and regulations and policies of the Board of Governors, has jurisdiction over the general educational policies of the university and passes rules and regulations necessary to university government. 

CSU President Amy Parsons acknowledged the controversy when speaking at the faculty meeting.

 “And it seems like a lot of people have questions about it,” Parson said. “So I don't want to just like sweep it under the rug, because I think that did sort of expose (the situation).” 

The policy, which limited forms of expressive conduct like chalking and altered employee speech protections, was neither shared with the student government nor discussed with key stakeholders. It had been fast-tracked, unilaterally installed through administrative loopholes, and justified only in vague terms, said Claire Pickerel, an ASCSU senator.

But, by Oct. 8, just one day after the crackdown, the policy was suddenly gone. 

“They rescinded the policy and reinstated a 2022 version of it,” Luna said. “And now they're working on a new version to be released next semester… but it’s confusing and concerning that there was not much stakeholder input.”

Pickerel said changes to the policy slipped into university policy under the radar. 

“It was quietly installed on Aug. 14… a time when students weren’t on campus, professors were preparing syllabi, and nobody was paying attention,” Pickerel said.

Pickerel traced the lack of transparency back to a systemic problem. 

“They used a mechanism called ‘Fast Track,” which allows certain edits to be made without broad consultation,” Pickerel said. “They skipped ASCSU, they skipped the Graduate Student Organization, they didn’t seek student input at all.”

The consequences were chilling. 

“The employee speech policy is probably the most atrocious,” Pickerel said. “It targets employees, makes them scared, keeps them quiet. Same with chalking. It’s temporary, cheap, accessible free speech… and they took it away.”

Students argue this was no administrative accident. 

“This is pandering,” Pickerel said. “And I’m gonna be totally blunt, this is pandering to the Trump administration…to fascism.”

For Yoseline Rivera, ASCSU senator and chair of the University Affairs Committee, the situation was personal and political. A student had contacted her at the beginning of the semester to raise concerns about the suppression of speech. 

“It’s literally stripping away rights,” Rivera said. “It’s very scary.”

Rivera saw this not as an isolated issue, but as part of a pattern: 

“I don’t feel like I belong on this campus… and other students feel the same,” Rivera said. “CSU preaches democracy, but what democracy? Students’ voices were ignored.”

She pointed to past incidents, like students being “self-deported” last year and unstable student resource centers, as evidence that CSU’s disconnect from its student body runs deep. The new speech policy was simply the tipping point.

“I just want transparency,” Rivera said. “We get emergency alerts, right? When Amy Parsons wants to speak, we all get an email. So why not tell us when our rights are being rewritten?”

According to Pickerel, the administration overplayed its hand. 

“They were out there on Oct. 7, spraying down chalk, telling students they’d be trespassed,” Pickerel said. “Then the next day? It’s gone. That’s not (a) coincidence. That’s a strategy failing.”

A resolution, condemning the implementation of the policy, authored by Rivera, was introduced to the ASCSU senate. The resolution resulted in a strong public turnout in support.

And the moment CSU was pulled into the spotlight, facing backlash from both faculty and students, the policy vanished. 

“It makes us scared. It makes us quiet,” Pickerel said.

ASCSU President Jayke Nunley offered a diplomatic take: “ASCSU has worked hard to partner with students to ensure they know their voices matter. CSU has worked hard to understand and acknowledge the concern of students and are now working hard to follow the correct avenues which were created with stakeholder engagement and input in mind.”

The ASCSU body released a statement on Oct. 8 as well, highlighting their promises to defend free speech. 

“The Associated Students of Colorado State University (ASCSU) strongly affirms Colorado State University's Principles of Community: respect, inclusion, integrity, service and social justice, as the foundation for student advocacy. While we recognize that ASCSU’s past actions have not always upheld these principles, this body is committed to learning from that history and ensuring that our future actions reflect them fully.”

Still, students remain skeptical.

Rivera wants more than empty promises. She’s calling for a 72-hour transparency mandate: A rule that would require CSU to notify students of any major policy changes within three days. She’s also demanding a town hall with President Amy Parsons, which she says was promised but never held. 

“I understand being busy,” Rivera said. “But students are busy, too. Let’s not forget, though. We pay their paychecks.”

Parsons has committed to meeting with the branch leaders of ASCSU to discuss the policy and its development moving forward.

This controversy is more than a debate over chalk. It’s about power, voice, and governance at a university that prides itself on inclusion.

Colorado State University claims to value open and free expression. But when policies are pushed through silently, and students are left in the dark until their messages are washed away with hoses, those same values ring hollow. 

“In 2015, they said CSU had a century of shared governance,” Pickerel said. “Oh, how the great have fallen in 10 years. They abandoned students.” 

CSU junior Matthew Horn is working toward his major with focus on journalism, sports broadcasting and a hint of music. Ava Fricke is a political journalist focusing on written media.