It began with a bundle of fliers printed with derogatory words and scattered around Fonville Fountain. Then, the words rang out across Phi Beta Kappa Commons as students, faculty and staff at Elon University gathered for the last College Coffee of the academic year.
“COON!” the group yelled. “Your silence is acceptance!”
The line of 10 students shouted several other racially and sexually disparaging words, all followed by the mantra, “Your silence is acceptance!”
The protesters were led by senior Jasmine Whaley, who explained the meaning of the demonstration to dozens of shocked onlookers.
“The problem here is not that we just said those words, but the problem is that you’re probably more offended by the words than you are by the cultural of apathy and silence that takes place on this campus that allows that kind of hate speech to happen,” she said. “We’re here, and we’re pissed that our friends, our professors, and our neighbors are allowing this kind of sh-t to happen on our campus. It’s not over, and we’re not going to accept it.”
As the group dispersed, Whaley said she hoped those who witnessed the demonstration would consider how many students on Elon’s campus are hurt by derogatory speech of all types.
“They can’t be quiet anymore,” she said. “Our administration gives us the message that it can’t do anything until the student body pushes back against it. We’re smart kids. We understand what these words mean, but few students are able to empathize with those who are affected by such hate speech.”
Senior Emily Kane, an advocacy and education chair for Spectrum, Elon’s queer-straight alliance, said the protest was an attempt to change students’ indifference toward discrimination on campus.
“We wanted to shock people,” she said. “We wanted to show them that silence and apathy are not a way to deal with this issue.”
She said she has confidence undergraduate students will continue the effort to change the dialogue next year.
Some students said they thought the protest was effective. Freshman Sarah Keith said she thought it accurately demonstrated the apathy on campus.
“I agreed with their decision to use those words,” she said. “It showed that no one is doing anything to change the culture here.”