Editor’s note: Aaron Friel is a fellow with the Iowa Democratic Party.

Fellow students, NISG President Hunter Flesch, V.P. Avery Johnson, Speaker of the Senate Cavan Finn, and committee chairs Oliverio Covarrubias, Tanner Filip, Tristan Bernhard, Drew Stensland, and all fellow student leaders:

I have been at UNI long enough to remember when hateful speech uttered with anonymity shook the University of Northern Iowa. Not once, but twice in my time here have we seen slurs and insults targeting minorities become a topic of conversation for the entire school.

In the first instance, student leaders from half a dozen organizations made their statement on these attacks on the LGBT* community. They were joined by dozens more, and hundreds of students shared and spoke in favor of building an LGBT* center on campus, and leaders in student government stood with them.

Every senator in NISG, except one, voted in favor of the LGBT* center and standing by the community, either as members of the community or as allies. Posters went up on campus, people changed their profile pictures and cover photos, and it was clear: Panthers stand by their fellow Panthers.

In the second, as a senator in student government, two fellow senators and I worked to ensure that the official stance of student government would be clear: if hateful, racist, sexist or transphobic speech is to be heard, it must be disavowed and rebuked. It falls upon every student to not be bystanders to slurs and derision toward any group.

That was powerful too, and in fact some of these posters still hang up on campus. We respect every student’s freedom of speech, but we don’t have to respect every word spoken.

Now is a bit different. Instead of hiding in the shadows, there is a candidate for President who has spoken in slurs and targeted minorities. They’ve responded to allegations of sexual assault by saying that the accusers aren’t good enough “to be his first choice.” He’s described women as pigs, as worthless, as a drain on the workplace. He’s bragged about his alleged ability to assault any woman he likes.

Disregarding every other aspect of his character, speaking only to the words he uses to describe other people, would he be electable for a position in Northern Iowa Student Government, let alone President of the United States?

Where is the response, Northern Iowa Student Government? Even if you don’t rebuke Donald Trump, rebuke the idea that his words represent the University of Northern Iowa. If we can tolerate a man running for President saying these things, on what basis can we call out a student at UNI doing the same?

I call on you, leaders, to respond to his words. To respond to his speech with more speech. Stand by your fellow students, and make it clear that no person who speaks so callously about women would be a respected Panther. If you cannot find it in your heart to do that, I challenge you to tell me, and every other student at UNI, why we must tolerate it from him, and not from our fellow students.

Note: Since I wrote my open letter, some NISG senators have drafted a resolution condemning discrimination in the 2016 election.

The draft calls out that discrimination as violating the UNI Student Code of Conduct; I am grateful for that, and hope that resolution passes. It is also my sincere hope that students recognize that non-consensual sexual contact is also a violation, and I would expect my representatives to condemn language that glorifies or normalizes sexual assault.