This afternoon, Jan. 20, at 2:30 p.m., hundreds of students, faculty and Corvallis community members gathered under the awning of the Student Experience Center to perform a walkout and march in solidarity of various groups and identities in the wake of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

People started to come together just after 2 p.m. at the SEC Plaza with signs, flags and outfits that had various symbols and messages on them. After amassing several hundred people, the group left at around 3 p.m. and walked throughout campus to Central Park, then to the Corvallis riverfront.

Organizers of the event remained largely anonymous in the weeks and days leading up to the walkout. A Facebook page titled “OSU Campus Walkout!” appeared online several weeks ago, but no names were associated with the event. Some Corvallis community members found out through various ways, including fliers and social media.

Associate Dean of Oregon State University Dwaine Plaza said he found out about the walkout through an email.

“An email went around from the Alliance for Students. I’m a part of their mailing list and I felt I needed to be here. I thought everybody was available to see it (the protest), because I certainly was. And I consider myself a part of the administration here,” Plaza said.

In accordance with the inauguration, Plaza said there have been several protests and walkouts planned by various groups.

“People start finding out about issues like protests and tomorrow, for instance, there is a big protest going on in Portland. It’s being organized as a women’s march,” Plaza said. “I’m going to it and I know lots of my friends are going to it as a show of solidarity and we are basically showing that we are in alliance with those issues.”

Third-year OSU student Laurel Love dressed up in a bear costume with a sign that had Trump’s name crossed out on it.

“Protesting is the only gentle and easy way to tend our democracy that I know of. I wore it because of gentle crowd control. When you do protests with joviality it gets less serious and that is what we want. We want gentle protests,” Love said.

Fourth-year philosophy student Collin Davis said that walkouts and protests like the one today help bring people together.

“It was necessary to come out and build a community with each other,” Davis said. “Starting today.”

For more on the walkout, including video and photo galleries, go to the Baro’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, and pick up the next issue of the Baro that hits stands Monday.