LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- University of Louisville students demanded solutions Tuesday afternoon during a protest for transgender rights.

More than 70 protestors showed up at Grawemeyer Hall to support the UofL Trans Rights Alliance. Together, they wrote messages in chalk demanding action and change.

"Our rights are non-negotiable," said Parker Albro. "We will not let them continue to silence us."

Albro is not satisfied with UofL's response after a fraternity reportedly harassed and kicked a transgender female out of an off-campus party.

"They're symptoms of the larger problem, which is extremely pervasive and prevalent transphobia on our campus. It's in our policy. It's in our staff. It's in our faculty, and it's in our students," Albro said.

Albro and others want the school to better acknowledge and address transphobia — the fear, hatred, or negative attitudes and actions toward transgender people.

"Overall, it was just something that was very threatening to every every transgender person on campus, and I can't imagine how she felt in that moment," said Miles Lanham. "And so it was like the straw that broke the camel's back basically."

Lanham said he also experienced discriminatory behavior on campus from a UofL staff member. On Feb. 8, Lanham said, he was writing with chalk on campus grounds when a physical plant worker told police he was using spray paint.

"That ended up with me having to hide from the police for 30 minutes," he said. "What I experienced was terrifying and I do not want that happening to me or to anyone else."

UofL confirmed that both incidents happened, posting the following statement on Instagram:

"We are aware of two incidents in which transgender students were treated in a way that did not uphold our commitment as a community of care. We deeply regret these incidents occurred and are concerned that members of our Cardinal community feel targeted or victimized on our campuses. University officials have met with the impacted students and student leadership to discuss these issues and their concerns. We also have addressed the issue with employees and the student organization involved. We will continue to meet with student leaders and impacted students while developing additional training and programs to support our trans community. UofL is proud to be recognized as an LGBTQ-friendly university, and it is disheartening to hear some members of our community feel unsafe or unwelcome on our campuses. We are committed to create a community in which all our students, faculty and staff are valued, feel safe and can find a sense of belonging as members of the UofL family."

But students said a statement isn't enough.

"We just want the university to show that they do care about queer students and that they're willing to step up and punish individuals who are being very bigoted towards their students," Lanham said. "Because all they've done so far is sweep it under the rug and try to pretend that they're still caring about us, when we feel like a university that cared would have done something by now. And they wouldn't, they wouldn't care to be like, yes this happened, because they would be like it happened and we're working to fix it."

They're protesting for solutions, specifically wanting the school to address discrimination in housing applications and transphobic violence in Greek life.

"We demand respect and we demand change," Albro said.

Crying out — for all students to live and learn comfortably at UofL.

"Transphobia is an issue everywhere and it's by no way easy to solve, but we believe that there is more that this campus could be doing to help protect, make people trans people feel more comfortable," UofL sophomore Emily Reed said. "If people from different universities hear about this, I would love if they also started their own fight, and hopefully also reached out to our group so we can all get together. So that's what I think a lot of us are hoping so that we can be stronger together to make this place and everywhere a lot safer for trans people."

Dave Roelfs, a professor at UofL, said the protest was important, to "acknowledge that all of our students have a place and an equal place on campus."

"And, that somebody's gender identity, somebody's sexual orientation, none of that stuff matters for them having a place," Roelfs said. "They shouldn't have less of a place."

The UofL Trans Rights Alliance plans on protesting again soon in the form of a banner drop.

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