Texas college students harassed for hosting Bible verse Easter egg hunt on campus
A politically conservative student group at the University of North Texas said they were harassed by other students for distributing Easter eggs on campus filled with Bible verses.
On Sunday night, members of the Young Conservatives of Texas UNT chapter placed 250 colorful Easter eggs with Bible verses hidden inside them around campus and posted an announcement on social media about the egg hunt beforehand.
Kelly Neidert, a senior and chairman of YCT's UNT chapter, told The Christian Post in an interview Wednesday that they hid the eggs in part to celebrate Easter and as something fun for students to enjoy since the campus is under lockdown restrictions due to COVID-19.
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“My group decided we wanted to do this event because our school has really strict COVID guidelines right now, and we just thought that putting some Easter eggs out with some Bible verses would be kind of fun for everybody and a good way to celebrate Easter without breaking our COVID guidelines,” Neidert said.
Neidert told The College Fix in an interview earlier this week that half of the verses were about Easter and Christ, while others were uplifting Bible verses unrelated to Easter.
Due to the religious nature of the Easter eggs, members of YCT were attacked on social media, including on a UNT Facebook group used by some 9,000 students, parents and UNT alumni, The College Fix reported.
Neidert said the group is often attacked for its conservative beliefs, but the faith-aspect of the event seemed to provoke students even more.
“They’re obsessed with harassing us just because that’s what they like to do,” Neidert told CP. “They don’t like that we’re conservative, but I think that this probably was a little more inflammatory in their minds because of the religious aspect. And they don’t feel included somehow ... [since] it’s a Christian holiday. I think that was a lot of the problem they're having with this.”
Neidert retweeted screenshots of some of the students slamming the Easter eggs hunt. Some students accused them of littering, while others called for the student body to stomp on or trash the eggs. In reference to the Bible verses inside the eggs, one student wrote on Twitter: "Awesome! I was low on toilet paper."
Some eggs were found around campus with the Bible verse removed and condoms left inside.
In the past, UNT students vandalized YCT’s abortion memorial in memory of victims of abortion. Neidert said she should have known students would have the same response to the Easter eggs.
Neidert showed CP screenshots of some of the social media posts from the students mocking the Easter eggs.
“Once the eggs were out, we got a lot more backlash from more students,” Neidert said. “They were trying to go stomp them. They said they would go throw them away, and they just sent some nasty messages to me and about the event.”
Some parents of UNT students also joined in the criticism, saying the Bible-verse Easter egg hunt wasn't appropriate since not everyone on campus is Christian, and suggested the students should have filled the eggs with candy instead.
Neidert said many students in YCT were disappointed with how the event turned out. But despite the backlash, she noted that some students seemed to enjoy the Easter eggs.
“It looks like a lot of students did pick them up and just appreciate them, but I know some students were also throwing them away,” Neidert added.
YCT is frequently attacked on college campuses throughout the state. At UNT last year, a petition to remove the club for so-called “hateful actions” — racism, transphobia and homophobia — received over 2,700 signatures.
In response to demands from left-leaning activists to remove the conservative club from campus, Neidert released a statement on behalf of the YCT chapter last July.
“We are not a perfect organization, but it is clear that some people want us disbanded because we are conservative. …,” Neidert wrote. “Everyone on campus, including us, has First Amendment rights. We will stand unapologetic in our beliefs.”
