On our campuses, the election of Donald Trump is being treated as an emotional and personal disaster. It’s all about feelings. Classes have been canceled, therapeutic intervention offered and safe spaces filled. Here are three administrations in action, as reported on the Power Line blog:
There Will Be a Self-Care Session with Cookies and Mindfulness Activities
Dear Students (of U. Massachusetts, Lowell),
We at the Multicultural Affairs Office hope this email reaches you and you are doing ok. We know many of you stayed up waiting to hear of the election results. These are unprecedented times. The nation as well as our community is reacting in many different ways. We are reaching out to each of you because we know that this was an intense election and we are already hearing a number of reactions, feelings and emotions. This is a critical time to make sure that you, your friends, classmates, neighbors are doing ok and seeking the appropriate support especially if they need a place to process or work through what they’re feeling.
You may hear or notice reactions both immediate and in the coming weeks, some anticipated and many that may be difficult to articulate or be shared. While it may take some time to fully take in all the recent events, please also know that the OMA office is here for you. Our UMass Lowell community is here for you. Do not hesitate at all to come in or ask for support.
Today there is a Post-election self-care session from 12-4pm in Moloney. The event will include cookies, mandalas, stress reduction techniques and mindfulness activities. Counseling and Health Services will also be available. We have sent out messages through our Social Media sites as well as encouraging students to drop in all week. Above all, take good care and know that there is strength in our community that you can lean on.
Kind regards,
Office of Multicultural Affairs Staff
Trump Has Views on Civility and Inclusivity at Odds with Mine
To our students (Oglethorpe University):
Dean Hall and I invite each of you to join us this evening (Wednesday, November 9) in the TLCC dining hall at eight p.m. for a conversation about the election last evening. I know that members of our community have differing political and social views. I know some of you cast your vote yesterday for Donald Trump, Others voted for Secretary Clinton or another candidate, and there were some of you who chose not to vote at all. I also know there are members of our community who were not able to vote, because of their citizenship status or because of a criminal record. I encourage all of you to come.
As a president of a university, who in some ways represents all constituents, I fully realize that expressing personal or political views will be viewed by some as inappropriate. I encountered this perspective a few years back when I chose to speak out on the issue of gun safety after the massacre at Sandy Hook. I have no regrets at all about that decision. I felt then and I feel now that on certain issues at certain times in our history, the failure to speak out is far more dangerous than keeping silent. Today, for me, is another one of those times. And again, as I did on the gun safety issues, I want to be clear that I express my views first as a citizen of this country.
I still find it difficult this morning to believe that the majority of voters in our country chose to elect a man whose views on civility and inclusivity are so at odds with mine and with the values of our Oglethorpe community. This morning, I can manage to get past his inexperience and lack of public service even though virtually every editorial page in the country, left or right leaning, failed to endorse him because of those traits. What I cannot get past, and I will refuse to overlook, is a future of America that is divided by race, religion, sexual identity, and country of origin.
I look forward to seeing you tonight.
President Schall
Dear Colorado University- Boulder community:
As a nation, we have just finished a particularly stressful national election cycle. I want to acknowledge that our campus is not alone in experiencing and witnessing a wide range of reactions today, from joy, to fear, to sadness, to sheer exhaustion. I’d like to share how proud I am of our entire campus community for hosting political speakers and events as well as engaging in respectful dialogue across campus during this election cycle. While we are not perfect or error-free, as a community we must remain committed to the values contained in our Colorado Creed.
You may find yourself with friends, classmates or colleagues who do not share the same reactions as you. These interactions may evoke strong emotions that can quickly intensify. In some cases, you, or others close to you, may feel you are experiencing or witnessing negative treatment or more subtle forms of oppression, perhaps related to the election or perhaps because of your race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, country of origin, political thought or other aspect of your identity. At CU Boulder, we respect and protect all of these expressions of identity on our campus.
In every case, we are here to listen, engage and support one another. If you are struggling with the personal impact of this stressful time in any way, we have resources available to you. The campus provides safe spaces for discussions on identity, empowerment, intercultural competency and the impact of the election.
This is a highly stressful time of year on the campus and for the nation at the end of this election. We recommend several strategies to care for yourself and to help you remain productive throughout the semester, including:
- Acknowledge your feelings — check your emotional state before you engage in conversations. Are you in a space to dialogue?
- Focus on tasks or events that are in your control.
- Connect with friends, family, a community or a safe space to ground and support you.
- Focus on the present and shift away from the future.
- Monitor your social media use — check your reactions before and after taking in information and set time limits.
- Opt out of unproductive conversations — pay attention to whether the discussion is going to benefit anyone or just increase stress levels.
- Take care of basic needs such as eating, sleeping and drinking water. Incorporate activities that recharge and relax you.
Thank you for your engagement and investment in our national election process, and thank you for being part of our vibrant campus community,
Sincerely,
Philip P. DiStefano
Chancellor
I thought the president of a university is suppose to be diverse. Seems not in this case, he’s using his own personal agenda here, shaping these students to his way of thinking. Sounds like some brutal foreign leaders I know.
Heaven forbid if we ever bring the draft back!
While these examples are, on balance, a little silly, it is not out of line to assume that many students would be shocked and upset by the election of a candidate whose rhetoric was so ugly and so divisive. While students may not need self care sessions with cookies or for their president to talk about how he personally feels it is entirely reasonable for young people, mainly between 18-22, who assumed people who spoke like that no longer existed in America, would be so upset that someone who speaks like this was just elected president. I like this web site. I agree about the problems of free speech on campuses and share your concern with the disregard for due process in Title IX investigations. But sometimes you go too far, throwing the baby out with the bathwater as it were . Don’t get caught up in criticizing people’s responses to the election. This one was a doozy – and lots of people aren’t thinking clearly.
I’m a big Trump opponent, but I think this is unbelievably patronizing towards students, treating them like invalids. The one exception would be students whose parents are undocumented. They have a real reason to fear the immediate future.