Students at Eastern Michigan University have reinstated their use of campus sidewalks as a forum for political messaging. Using sidewalk chalk to say their piece, students engaged in written debates starting in September 2025.
Last semester, the EMU Protect Life student organization and students who opposed their views had a “chalk war” on the campus sidewalks.
What started as a student organization advertising for more members evolved into an artistic and political argument that spread across campus. The chalk messaging spanned highly trafficked campus sidewalks, leaving it unavoidable to passersby. Chalk was reported in front of Pray-Harrold, the Halle Library, the Student Center and the Mark Jefferson and Strong buildings, in addition to other popular areas.
Throughout the morning of Monday, Sept. 9, 2025, students began to notice anti-abortion messages written in colorful sidewalk chalk. These messages depicted images of a fetus, the words “Human rights start at conception!”, suggestions to visit Project Rosie’s website and more.
In response, some students poured water over the messages and wrote their own thoughts in protest.
By Tuesday, Sept. 30, much of the original chalk was no longer visible, but new messages had popped up. Many of these additions were in support of the pro-choice movement.
On the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 1, a news reporter from The Eastern Echo saw two students from the Planned Parenthood Generation Action student organization chalking in support of reproductive rights behind King Hall.
On Thursday, Oct. 2, an Echo reporter met Rosa Skrobola, the president of Protect Life at EMU, while she was chalking a new message. On the corner of Downing Hall, she had written, “Abortion is violence.”
Rosa Skrobola, the president of Protect Life EMU, writes anti-abortion messaging in front of Downing Hall on Oct. 2, 2025.
The Echo was able to interview Skrobola at a later date about the chalking.
“This year, I would say that I think there was a lot more response from both sides; both pro-life and pro-choice people were leaving more chalk messages. That is very different from what we were seeing last year,” she commented.
Skrobola explained that she invites the members of Protect Life at EMU to go out with her and share their beliefs.
“We write things like ‘equal rights for the unborn,’ ‘Planned Parenthood lies,’ and that pregnant women should visit projectrosie.com. The core of our messaging was saying that abortion is killing innocent people, and we are sharing resources and help," Skrobola said.
In the spring of 2025, The Eastern Echo wrote an article about chalking on campus and the university regulations regarding chalk advertisement.
“After hearing about the chalking rules, our club contacted administration. They said we could continue doing what we’re doing as long as we stick to the sidewalks and use washable material,” Skrobola told The Echo.
Read More: Anti-abortion student group sparks chalk war across EMU sidewalks - The Eastern Echo
Read More: Planned Parenthood Generation Action responds to chalk on campus sidewalks - The Eastern Echo
Skrobola explained to The Echo that she believes spreading these messages has helped the group gain many new members.
“We have fifteen regular members this year and then people that come and go, maybe ten of them," Skrobola said.
When asked about the abundance of responses to the chalk, Skrobola was pleased.
“I was glad to see the responses, because really what we want to do is show people what abortion is," Skrobola said. "I want people to see that and respond and tell me what they think. It made me glad, because it was encouraging conversation. The core of our mission on campus is to have a loving, respectful dialogue with people about what abortion is and that the unborn deserve protection. We definitely will continue chalking, having good dialogue with people and sharing the truth that the unborn are human and they deserve life.”
Protect Life at EMU meets every Tuesday at 5 p.m. in room 320 of Halle Library.
The Eastern Echo was also able to discuss the matter with Natalie Haight, a sophomore who is part of EMU’s chapter of Planned Parenthood Generation Action. Haight is majoring in clinical psychology and has a minor in women and gender studies. She and her roommate, Leah Murphy, went out late on the night of Oct. 1 to write messages of their own.
The duo wrote phrases such as "Pro-women [equals] pro-choice,” “Keep your laws off my body,” and “Stop imagining the apocalypse and start imagining the revolution.”
“We mainly did it to fight back, almost for lack of better words. We wanted to show people that there is support for them on campus, and not everyone is pro-life,” Haight said.
Natalie Haight and Leah Murphy wrote "Keep your laws off my body" on the sidewalk in front of the Marshall building on the evening of Oct. 1, 2025.
She continued, “I think it can be really triggering to see stuff like that on campus, especially for people who have had an abortion. A lot of the messages have been really dark and demanding, so we also wrote ‘you look great today,’ ‘you’re doing amazing,’ ‘keep going,’ and things like that to spread some positivity on campus.”
Haight reported that Planned Parenthood Generation Action has not done any chalking as a group, but many individuals have, and they are hoping to plan a group outing for chalk messaging around campus in the future.
Editor's note: This article was updated on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025 to reflect what was published in the print edition of The Eastern Echo.
