Candle lights flicker in the dark, sounds of cheering and chanting echoed through the streets, hundreds of people surround you with a somber yet hopeful atmosphere that fills the crisp-cold-fall air.

The day after election on Wednesday night at 7 p.m., a peace rally took place on campus in response to the Tuesday, American Presidential Election.

With candle in hand, people walked around campus chanting ‘Love not hate’ and ‘Build Bridges’. Approximately 400 college students, faculty and community members attended the peace rally and many expressed emotions such as shock, fear and anger, such as Corvallis community member Gabriela Oh.

“It’s a tragedy and I am very afraid about what the next four years is going to be like and I am very devastated to see exactly how our country feels about minorities, women, immigrants and Muslims. Yes, I am just devastated,” Oh said.

However, Arianna Juliette and Hana Maaiah, who put together the peace rally, intended to spread love and support to one another as opposed to protesting in anger.

“The most important thing about this movement right now is people are scared to be an American and embarrassed to be an American,” Juliette said. “And that’s not true we need to come together and really celebrate what America was built on. Which is diversity from everywhere, every single country this is what makes us who we are.”

Their effort was to provide support for those who are in fear or confused and to help channel those feelings into something more positive, according to Maaiah. 

“The point is everyone is really divided we’re really frustrated and scared so we’re trying to create an atmosphere to channel that in a more positive energy. Right? Because we all have this passion, we all wanted to do something but we just feel stuck,” Maaiah said.

Juliette mentioned that anyone was more than welcome to join in on the rally, whether or not they were Trump supporters. Student Devin Slaughter was passing by and chanted their own statement by repeating ‘Trump’ over and over to the rally. He had different views and opinions as to why students were upset at the election. 

“In my opinion the media really works to manipulate the millennials and that’s why you see a lot of the college campus’ kids are protesting against Trump because we’re the ones mostly around technology all day so we’re the ones kind of manipulated by the media,” Slaughter said.

But keeping true to the intent of the rally, many people are trying to be as positive as they can be in light of the situation, such as Emmy Rommer, who had attended the rally.

“I’m really, really encouraged to see so many people out here in peace talking about something that matters to them, that solidarity and making this campus a safe place for that,” Rommer said.