Elon senior Lauren Hill woke up the morning of May 14 to discover broken egg shells and egg yolk all over her Mill Point front porch. Being a part of the Students for Peace and Justice, Hill had hung up many posters with slogans such as “Stand with Palestine. End the occupation now,” “Lead with love. Eyes on Rafah” and “Liberation for all requires resistance from all.” Hill and the SPJ had created these posters for their peaceful walk on May 7.
Following the incident, Hill filed a report to campus police — who later discovered it was one individual who will remain unnamed.
At first, Hill said she did not know what to think about this incident. Especially with national conflict at other campuses involving pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Hill said she finds this act of retaliation inactive when it comes to testing and subduing her beliefs.
“I don't give a shit that I was egged,” Hill said. “ You're not intimidating me.”
Hill received many messages, even from those she does not find herself close with, offering help to clean her porch. After cleaning the mess, Hill said she felt a huge sense of support that day — despite the lingering smell of eggs.
“We were talking for hours and it was so encouraging to me that such a wonderful, heartfelt sense of community came from something like this,” Hill said. “We wouldn't have been together in that situation unless someone had egg’d my apartment.”
Hill also put all of the discarded eggs into the Elon Community Garden compost bin as a way to recycle the act of aggression into something for better use of the entire community.
“This anger and intimidation, or hatred — or whatever is now — being returned to the earth, where it will turn into growth,” Hill said.
Hill had met with Director of Inclusive Excellence Education and Development Carla Fullwood, who spearheads Elon's bias reporting team, and reached out to Hill for a meeting. The team had first started the meeting asking about how she was feeling. Hill mentioned she was shocked at the genuinity of their curiosity.
“When we first sat down, she was just like, ‘How are you?’” Hill said. “Which was not something that people always take the time to ask.”
Professor of Sociology and Advisor to the Students of Peace and Justice Thomas Arcaro said he feels as though Hill’s story needs to be heard, especially to make sure other proceedings are averted. The safety of students is something he said he finds highly important.
“Make sure that people are aware that this happened and that it is not okay that this happened,” Arcaro said. “The hope would be that that would deter future incidents.”
Arcaro said he admires Hill’s bravery and is glad she is standing up against this action.
“This is beginning to sink in and she is a very strong woman,” Arcaro said. “She is not going to let this go.”
Despite this, Acaro said he is not concerned about students using their freedom of speech on campus.
“I’m feeling concerned about the welfare of students that are speaking out and want to speak out,” Arcaro said. “I know from talking with students that there are many that feel like they can’t be vocal about their support for Palestine.”
When it comes to the result of this incident, Hill has not found herself left with any bitter feelings as she reminds herself that this act of intimidation will not phase her.
“This has not left a sour taste in my mouth, but this has instilled in me that love prevails, the power of kindness in the face of hatred and violence,” Hill said.