Silver City, NM – More than 100 students, faculty and staff members at Western New Mexico University were pictured holding signs with the wording #BringBackOurGirls, in support of the safe return of 276 kidnapped Nigerian girls.
Kidnapped by an Islamic militant group, the nearly 300 girls are aged 15 to 18 year old girls were kidnapped while attending a Nigerian school. The school was subsequently burned and many are thought to have been sold in mass marriages.
WNMU students and employees are sharing the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag images in support of bringing awareness to an international social media campaign.
“I hope that we can make a small difference in helping to bring knowledge and pressure to world officials through these pictures,” said Marc Villanueva, WNMU junior.
Administration officials were also pictured with the hashtag campaign.
“We value education very highly in this country, so it sad that these young ladies were kidnapped while in school,” said WNMU President Joseph Shepard. “I’m glad to see our WNMU community embracing this awareness campaign.”
The #BringBackOurGirls hashtag has been tweeted over 1 million times in the last two weeks. A photo album of sign holders can be seen at www.facebook.com/WesternNewMexicoUniversity.