Election Reflection
Students and Professors Share Views on Results
The election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris has raised much controversy across the United States. With Donald Trump winning the election over Harris how has this recently changed campus?
There were many different reactions from students and faculty across campus regarding the election. Lindsay Fortner ’28 said “I feel discouraged, disappointed, and defeated.”
While Luke Hughes ’27 said, “It was a fair election, there were definitely points in the election night that could have gone unfairly but I am happy about the outcome” he said.
With there being so many emotions going around about the results professors saw less class participation and attendance on the Wednesday following the election. “I had a few people take an unofficial mental health day; some things were a little flat on Wednesday,” said Meg Carpenter who is a professor in the Psychology Department. “In my seminar a couple of students were absent, but more in my intro classes,” she said.
Kearney Coupland, a professor in Environmental Studies as well as the First-Year Program said, “Classes were hard that day and participation was maybe there.”
Fortner, who felt disappointed, shared her thoughts about the election within class participation on the following day. “Personally, it seemed like a very dreary and dull day following the election, participation did seem to decrease as people were probably feeling unsure about how to react,” she explained on Monday afternoon. “More specifically, it seemed that the females in my classes felt uninterested and perhaps defeated by the result of the election.”
While the emotions are still heavy, the election results might have a potential impact on students’ relationships with each other. Hughes, who was pleased the election was fair, said, “to an extent, I would say it comes a lot from the media, but also people can’t control what the media feeds them,” he said.
Emotions at the moment may seem subdued at the surface on the St. Lawrence campus but that does not mean that they are still not there a week after the election has taken place. Both professors Carpenter and Coupland agree that students who are still feeling strong reactions about the election should utilize the campus support spaces: counseling services, the chapel and community assistants.