In 1989, somewhat overshadowed by the nearby shantytown erected by the Anti-Apartheid Coalition, UT’s College Republicans erected a facsimile of the Berlin Wall near the Humanities Building and asked passersby to sign the wall as a statement of their opposition to Communist oppression. College Republicans treasurer Heath Murphy explained that the group wanted to raise awareness of other types of oppression besides apartheid. In the first two days, more than six hundred people signed the wall.