Over the past month, fliers announcing “WALKOUT. MAY 27th” appeared all over Brooklyn Tech, with a link to a self-described non-partisan organization “We the Students,” (WTS) which was simultaneously growing popular on Instagram. Presenting an exhaustive list of buzzwords the Trump administration has allegedly attempted to censor, the posters urged students to leave class and join other schools in protest.
Plans for the protest were mainly communicated via Instagram, where organizers Maya Shadrin (‘26) and Theodore Mikesell (‘27) created videos to encourage students to join the movement. Their account, wethestudents.bths, represents just one of many WTS chapters that coordinated for the May 27 walkout.
We the Students is an organization “concerned with the Trump Administration’s moves to bypass Congressional and judicial authority for political aims” that “threaten the foundations our democracy is built upon and our ability to resist authoritarianism.”
The focus of WTS is broad, as were the issues protesters highlighted, but they all unite around a common dissatisfaction with the Trump administration.
Organizers planned to meet on the first floor center, but deans and Principal Newman directed students to leave the building and cross the street. Tech administration did not discourage students from attempting to walkout.
After gathering outside of Fort Greene park, student leaders guided students to the train. At DeKalb station, a hoard of Tech students shoved onto a Q train and headed to Union Square Park.
Tech arrived to an already lively but small crowd of other schools, and leaders initiated chants. In under an hour, the protest nearly quadrupled in size.
The number of students quickly grew as groups of protesters from schools across the city arrived. Some of the biggest masses came from Frank Sinatra, Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, and, of course, Tech.
WTS estimated that over 500 students were present. The protest also garnered a crowd of onlookers, reporters, and police. The demonstration remained peaceful for its hour and a half duration, and the officers kept their distance from protesters.
Leaders from WTS said they were impressed and inspired by the turnout. “It was definitely a pleasant surprise seeing how many people really were motivated to come and stand up for their rights,” said Brooklyn Tech WTS captain Maya Shadrin who explained that the number of students who showed up was far greater than organizers expected.
Shadrin’s co-organizer, Tech sophomore Theodore Mikesell, offered broader context about the current state of youth protests around the country. “Students are the future of a brilliant America,” said Mikesell. “And they’re currently being silenced left and right for speaking out in universities.”
He pointed to historical examples of protest, from campus sit-ins in the 1960’s to speak-outs against Apartheid in South Africa in the 1980’s.
“Universities know that students have a lot of power and that’s why they’re so desperate to silence [them],” Mikesell added.
Press from a variety of organizations across the political spectrum were drawn to the event as the number of protesters grew. Even large publications like the New York Post covered the protest.
A video of the protest uploaded to Instagram by the NY Post now has over a thousand comments, many of them part of long threads of argument. Students present at the protest replied to criticisms of their actions, prompting back-and-forths about Trump’s policies and the significance of the demonstration.
Still, the message We the Students promoted was one of unity and non-partisanship. The message of the group is decidedly anti-Trump, and the majority of their message and supporters seem to be liberal. Still, they try to separate from political party affiliations.
Protesters decorated their faces with red, white, and blue face paint and waved American flags. “It felt very patriotic,” said Biological Sciences Major Shamima Jibril (‘26). One of the biggest signs at the protest, propped up by WTS organizers, read, “protect our country.”
The organization’s goal is to protect the democracy of the US from what they call unconstitutional acts by the Trump administration that “threaten the foundations [of] our democracy.” Some signs at the protest reiterated the popular leftist accusation that Trump is fascist.
Members of an organization called Refuse Fascism gathered around the protest to raise awareness for their organization and “unite with people who [were] protesting,” according to organizer Travis Morales.
Organizers from We the Students tried to distance RF members to avoid affiliation with unendorsed messages. WTS leaders told RF members not to interact with students, and arguments arose between the groups as RF tried to hand out stickers and fliers to demonstrators.
“The stickers they were handing out were [saying], like, down with the government,” said Shadrin. “We want the policies to change and we want the methodology to change; we don’t want to bring down the government.”
WTS is entirely student led, and its teenage organizers frequently reminded protesters to avoid engaging with adults.
Students at the protest still supported the anti-fascism message, as they held signs reading “No Kings” and “Defeat Fascism.” RF members lingered around the protest and managed to hand materials to some demonstrators.
Other protesters chose to address Trump’s actions regarding education, DEI and immigration.
According to their official platform, We the Students’ focus is to “stop executive overreach, protect American institutions, preserve individual freedoms and end corruption in government.”
Nava Litt, the founder of We the Students and a senior at Bronx Science, said that May 27 was just the beginning for the organization. “Our goal today is to get the word out to everyone that we can. We want We the Students to grow and grow and grow, and this is the first step.”
