OU Students Rally Against Trump's Executive Order

Students and staff at University of Oklahoma in Norman rallied on campus against President Donald Trump’s executive order on Monday.

The order temporarily bans travel into the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries. 

Farid Omoumi attended the protest and stood up during the rally.

“I was an Iranian. Now, I am an Iranian American,” Omoumi said. 

Omoumi moved to the United States in 2008 filled with hope, but said Monday, he feels disappointed in President Trump’s decision.

“This was not the America I knew,” he said. 

While he doesn’t want to see terrorist attacks, he said Trump’s executive order is not the way to solve the problem.

In the middle of the rally, heads turned to an anti-protester who was screaming “Build a wall, deport them all.”

It wasn’t long before hundreds intervened with a louder chant “No ban. No wall. Equality for all.”  

OU sophomore Kyle Meyer saw the rally from the sidelines. He said he supports the executive order and disagrees with the protest.

“I think it is just kind of sad that we have a body of misinformed students,” Meyer said. “There is nowhere in the executive order that explicitly states we’re banning Muslims.”

More than 130 undergraduate students at OU are affected by the executive order.

“It’s really hurtful that it is on our campus, that we are having to deal with this awful ban,” OU senior Zak Hourara said. 

He is the son of immigrants and even went down to Dallas to protest for the refugees detained at the airport.

This is the first of many rallies on campus. A solidarity march will be held on Thursday, February 2. Another rally is happening on February 9.