About 30 people stand quietly in a line in full view of the Gatton Student Center with signs reading "Educate, Don't Capitulate" and "Compliance Kills Education."
Founder and organizer Craig Blair says this particular protest — one of of 45 the group has staged in recent months — is meant to urge the university not to comply or make preemptive changes based on Trump administration orders or threats.
Their message: "Do not obey in advance. The time to resist is now, and the world is watching."
While this protest over cancellation of special identity-based graduation ceremonies is a modest one, Blair says the group, which also participated in a more-than-thousand-strong rally last weekend in Lexington, isn't necessarily concerned with numbers. It's more about keeping Trump's moves to expand executive power front and center.
"Our goal, Peaceful Bluegrass Resistance, is to do small rallies frequently so that people are constantly thinking about these things," he says. "When when you drive to work in the morning, you're gonna see us on Harrodsburg Road. You're gonna see our signs. When you drive home in the evening, you're gonna see us in front of the mall on Nicholasville Road."
Though the protests may focus on different issues, Blair says they're of a piece. The underlying theme: spotlighting what they see as the steady creep of authoritarianism.
On the issue of graduation ceremonies and DEI, UK spokesman Jay Blanton says the school understands it's a fraught moment.
"We're doing as best as we can to navigate through a lot of turbulent and uncertain times — they have a lot of anxiety and, yes, even some hurt associated with it. We understand that. We empathize with that," he says. "But we believe the federal direction and then, therefore, the law is very clear here. And we've got to do what we can, and do what we must to comply with the law. At the same time, we've got to do what we can and do what we must to support our community. We're working to do both things."
Blanton says UK welcomes protest as long as it remains peaceful, which he says it has.