The College Fix

‘I could feel the pain, sadness and fear coming from these students’

An actress whose appearance on a college campus was crashed by protesting students has donated money to various activist organizations in those students’ names, claiming that they “need to be heard and need change.”

Jenna Fischer, the star of “The Office” and various films, appeared at Indiana’s DePauw University to promote her new book “The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide,” when around one hundred students crashed the event, protesting racist messages that have allegedly appeared on campus recently, The New York Daily News reports.

It is unclear why students crashed the event or what connection Fischer’s book has to the bigoted messages.

Following the interruption of her book promotion, Fischer announced on Twitter that she would be making charitable donations in the name of the students who targeted her event.

“The student protesters spoke about their experiences and about the hate they have been encountering,” Fischer wrote. “I could feel the pain, sadness and fear coming from these students.”

Fischer, who did not clarify in her tweet what connection her book tour has to the controversy on DePauw’s campus, further said: “In light of [the protest], using the full amount I was paid by the University, I will be making equal donations to the NAACP, The Anti-Defamation League and the Trevor Project in the name of the students of DePauw University.”

It is unclear how much Fischer was paid to appear at DePauw.

Students at times gave the appearance of believing that Fischer was somehow responsible for the racist messages on campus. “Stop excusing this problematic behavior,” one student yelled, according to The Daily News, without clarifying how Fischer had “excused” the behavior.

Read The Daily News‘s report here.

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