My D does a midnight radio show on Tuesdays and she and her co-host had fun with the election…played all songs with titles relevant to the campaign without exposing any favoritism. As the polls shut down, students were starting to vocalize their feelings, mostly disgust. (Hey, this is an LAC so that was to be expected). D’s very first experience with college politics was during her 4-day orientation program during which she witnessed another student being ostracized for his beliefs and she stood up for him. YEAH D !! It was more about fighting back against a bully but I digress…
She called this morning and said she is dreading leaving her dorm room. She isn’t afraid of retaliation as she had not situated herself with either opponent, instead stayed neutral in her discussions. She said the students are gathering on the green space and she can see lots of girls crying from her dorm window. She just doesn’t want to deal with it lol and wants to move on. In her words “I choose to be optimistic and look for the good in this outcome”. God, I love this kid.
We have elections. Everyone votes and then we all live with the consequences. I voted for every Republican Presidential candidate since 1984 and they didn’t all win. One of the features of our country is that life goes on after the election. Even at LACs.
It is all part of learning to be an adult. They will all eventually be fine.
My son is at a conservative school in a state that DT won by a huge margin (TN). He and his room mate had an election party last night. I think they are all fine.
Yes, it’s good for kids to learn how the system works and for those that slept through high school government to learn that for their near term future, checks and balances is in integral and important component of the system. For most college kids it’s the first election so for those that vote they are bound to be at their age engaged.
NOT trying to get political. (well, I guess I am)
But checks and balances? This morning? notsomuch.
There, I’m done. I will back off. The electorate spoke and I accept the results.
It’s still early here so I imagine kids are just waking up. I have spoken with my D and she said one dean came back to campus at midnight in case she was needed. There are also meetings today for those that need to talk.
My college kid is still sleeping, after staying up until 4:30 am with me and on the phone with his sibling out on the west coast. Thankfully no class until this afternoon.
In my department, extreme fear. Our department is the ethnic studies dept and we’ve already had a slew of racist fliers put up over our department and death threats against my advisor and other professors for standing with broadly defined minority students. And this was before the election.
Huh. Funny you should ask. I work on one college campus and take classes on another.
One of those campuses has a very large Muslim population. It is eerily quiet there today, although I did see one woman in a hijab crying and being comforted by another. Not sure if it was election-related, but if it was, I’m sure she has no reason to worry. She’ll be fine. /sarcasm off
My son is in HS and only 16 so unable to vote. But I was very proud of him yesterday as he spent from 330pm-after midnight volunteering at a local polling place (he signed up through his AP Gov class). He was disillusioned with both major party candidates but it did not stop him from being very invested in the process and seeing it in action. My H and I wanted to go to bed and tried to pick him up around 10 but he insisted on seeing the process through to the end, counting absentee ballots and delivering all the machines and ballots back to the local courthouse.
All of our K-12 school mock elections here went heavily for Trump so I’m sure the mood there is very upbeat today.
D helped run her school’s election results event and was up very late so I haven’t heard from her today. But last night there was a lot of anger and dejection. Fear, too.
A friend’s son who is in HS had to leave today for his own safety because he was threatened with violence by those who “won”. I’m sure that’s playing out at schools across the country.
D just told me one of her professors canceled a midterm and gave a week long extension on homework. Looks like other professors are also working to accommodate the students who may be having problems digesting all that has happened.