Although the majority of the Elon University community condemn the Trump Caravan that made a pit stop at Elon University this Saturday, there is not a consensus among the student body.
University officials were quick to condemn the Trump Caravan after video surfaced of a number of demonstrators shouting obscenities and racial slurs at passerby. Elon University Megan Squire, who spent part of her morning holding a Black Lives Matter sign was among their targets. She posted several videos, with at least one depicting a man yelling “white power” as he drove by.
At the time, Squire said she was surprised the group was allowed on campus. Elon University and town officials agreed.
"While I endorse everyone's opportunity to demonstrate their political affiliation, I neither endorse nor condone the verbal assault of our residents and visitors," wrote the town of Elon's Mayor Jerry Tolley in a statement, adding that the caravan members technically didn't break any laws. "As the Mayor of the Town of Elon, I pride myself on the strength of our community. We are an open and welcoming town and the adopted goals and policies enshrine these virtues. Myself, the Board of Aldermen, and town staff strive daily to make sure that people of all walks of life feel safe, with no regard to race, religion, ethnicity, gender or sexuality. This means that we cannot exclude people from outside our community from coming here with their individual views and values, which may be different from our own.
Elon University’s Vice President for Student Life Jon Dooley said the university is exploring no trespass citations to those in the caravan that can be identified.
“I don’t think that’s going to be enough,” said Elon Student Chase Albritton. “Honestly I think it’s ridiculous. I mean I get it if you do it in a city or something but to do that on a private campus around students. I think Elon needs to protect the students.”
Safety was a primary concern among many students. While some didn’t believe that they were in any immediate danger from the Trump Caravan specifically, they were concerned about other groups and future incidents.
“I didn’t like that they were saying (slurs) to students on the campus,” said Elon Student Rob Burdick. “I didn’t feel threatened because there were police in the area. But it just kind of feels like because they were on the road there wasn’t much we could do about it.”
Burdick admitted that he did notice an uptick in police presence in the days immediately following the caravan, although it returned to normal by Tuesday.
Elon student Jack Travucto wasn’t quite ready to condemn the caravan without having seen them first hand.
“I wasn’t there, I don’t have an opinion because I didn’t see it,” Travucto said, articulating sentiments from a number of other students. “I couldn’t tell you if it was right or wrong or anything like that, or how they conducted themselves. I’m not going to talk about something I don’t really know about.”
While some students were more willing to condemn the caravan than others, almost every student agreed that Elon is no place for hate speech.
“We want to prevent racism,” Albritton said. “We want to prevent white supremacy. I feel like those things are the same.”