Trump supporters at U-M say they feel targeted

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Hundreds of University of Michigan students joined together to voice frustration with the number of protests and vigils on campus.

They're also upset over statements made by the school's president following the election of Donald Trump.

"(The professor's) opening line was: 'I've tried, but I just can't understand how any human in America can vote for a racist and a sexist like Donald Trump and I'll never be able to respect them," Amanda Delekta said.

She says her University of Michigan says University of Michigan biology class professor said that lecture turned into a biased political discussion.
 
"I was really offended and I felt uncomfortable to speak out and share my beliefs," Delekta said.

Turning that frustration into a protest, Delekta, who is also the political director of the College of Republicans wrote a letter, a "Not My Campus" petition now with more than 300 signatures and dozens of other letters to the university's president Mark Shlissel.

"If people are allowed to go out there and protest our president elect," said Enrique Zalamea, student and president of the College of Republicans. "We should have the right to protest 'Not our campus.'"

Zalamea said after the election some classes were cancelled and exams postponed.

"The teachers instead started talking about why Hillary lost and starting talking about what they fear from a Trump presidency," Zalamea said. "As a conservative I felt the conversations were very one-sided for the liberals."

FOX 2: "Do you think it’s appropriate for professors to be expressing their political opinions?"

"It’s difficult to analyze that after the fact not knowing what was said," university spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said.

Since the election students have planned protests and vigils on campus while there have been several hateful attacks including a female student forced to remove her head scarf or to be lit on fire. The university president specifically responded to recent threatening messages and attacks along with the petition in an email Sunday night.

Delekta says she feels encouraged by the president of the university's responses to her petition -- which now includes an invitation to meet with her.

University of Michigan officials say the school will continue to monitor the situation on campus, asking students not to be reluctant and to report incidents to police or the university's bias response team.

Meanwhile Delekta says she feels empowered knowing her voice has been heard.

"I would like everyone on campus moving forward to try to respect other people's viewpoints," she said. "And not judge them based off of a vote."

>>WEB EXTRAS:

For the "Expect Respect" campaign CLICK HERE.

For the message sent by the U-M president to the university community Sunday night  CLICK HERE.

For the message Schlissel sent Wednesday morning following the election CLICK HERE.

For a link to the Bias Response Team CLICK HERE.