Students, faculty and staff took time to promote unity and hope for the future as they shared encouraging messages on display boards lining East Haggard Avenue on Wednesday.
After months of contentious debate and anxiety surrounding the historic 2020 U.S. presidential election, the Elon community came together to promote hope and unity in the heart of campus on Wednesday.
The typically steady flow of traffic along East Haggard Avenue was replaced with large chalk display boards encouraging students, faculty and staff to share their hopes for the future following Election Day. The Town of Elon closed the road, which runs through the center of campus, to offer a safe space for reflection and conversation.
The Hopes for the Future: Public Art Project, sponsored by the Division of Student Life, gave the Elon community the opportunity to fill the boards with positive and encouraging messages for the entire campus to see.
“At this point, we need something that isn’t super political in our faces,” said Miracle Smythe ’23. “We just need a chance to express how we feel and what we want for the future, and I’m really glad that we have this outlet.
Smythe was one of several students to stop by the installation to share messages of hope on Wednesday. Smythe admits to feeling anxious about the election, but now that ballots have been cast, she hopes the Elon community – and the nation as a whole – can show unity and understanding in the days to come.
Organizers hope the installation also helps the campus engage in important conversations surrounding the election and other issues facing the nation. Graduate Apprentices Mal Williams and Nelson Ysabel took time to read each message before leaving encouraging words of their own. Williams hoped to spark a dialogue about strengthening relationships and building community.
“We invited friends over for dinner last night just to have a distraction and have a good time,” Williams said. “So for me, I try to find a lot of comfort in community at this time and building relationships through these deeper conversations about what’s going on.”
Ysabel wanted to help spread optimism throughout the campus community while promoting a message of justice for all people.
“When we say ‘justice for all,’ we mean justice for everybody to have the opportunity to live with dignity and fully realize who they are and fully realize the potential that their communities offer,” Ysabel said.
The messages served as sources of inspiration for anyone who spent time around the installation on Wednesday. Director for Global Education Initiatives and Assistant Professor Mark Dalhouse made the trip to Haggard to read some of the messages and better understand the thoughts and feelings of his students and the broader Elon community following Election Day.
“It’s a way for me to try to express solidarity and empathy with our students,” Dalhouse said. “I also wanted to get a sense of what Elon is doing to give everybody a space to process their feelings at such a divisive time.”
The installation was part of a series of post-Election Day events offering spaces for dialogue and community building. Also on Wednesday, students were invited to share their feelings in a number of Post-Election Reflection and Conversation drop-in sessions across campus. In the days to come, the university will also host panel discussions and several opportunities for reflection and conversation across the Elon campus.
Following such a hotly contested campaign season, students say events like these are important to help the entire campus community show unity as Elon and the nation prepare for a future that stretches beyond the election.
“I think this is helpful, especially today, to have these up and give people hope,” said Kate Rocheleau ’22. “I think it’s very important for us to start to accept and live in a world that is equal and just and fair.”