Chants of “bring back our girls” could be heard across the Wichita State campus Thursday as a group of peaceful protestors marched to raise awareness about last month’s Nigerian kidnapping conducted by the terror group Boko Haram.

The kidnapping took nearly 300 schoolgirls from their school in Nigeria with threats to sell them.

Among the approximately 200 marchers was WSU junior and Nigerian Oluwaseun Ogundipe. He said the march held a special meaning for him.

“By doing this, people will know about the situation and then they can help stop this kind of action,” he said.

Boko Haram leaders were wanted before the kidnapping, but they are now known internationally. Ogundipe said that even though many Americans had not heard of Boko Haram before the kidnapping, they have been a problem for quite some time.

“This has been going on for awhile now,” he said. “They’ve been doing all this stuff, like bombing buildings and they need someone to stop them.”

Chinyere Okafor, professor of English and women’s studies, who is from Nigeria, saw the event as symbolic because it was held at a university.

“[Boko Haram] claim that they don’t like Western education or education of any sort,” she said. “They don’t want those girls to grow up and take their place here.”

She and others spoke at The Plaza of Heroines near Ablah Library after marching from the Rhatigan Student Center. The Plaza honors women who have made significant contributions to society.

“That’s why we’re doing it here and that’s why we’re doing it in a Western university,” Okafor said.

The Nigerian Student association, the Women’s Studies Department and the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) organized the protest in less than two days.

“This is something that is going on across the country,” OMA program coordinator Danielle Johnson said. “It’s very much last minute, across the country.”

Even though it was last minute, Okafor said she was pleased with the turnout.

“It brought tears to my eyes,” she said. “When things happen to girls, little people, little children, everybody’s concerned.”

Protestors were informed about the activity through social networks and fliers spread across campus and encouraged to wear red, which has come to represent awareness about the kidnappings. The protest continued to the Heskett Center and back to the plaza.

More information about the kidnapping and about protests taking place across the country, visit the facebook.com page, Bring Back Our Girls or search the hashtag, #bringbackourgirls, for the latest news and information.