Nov 9, 2016 6:39 pm ET
Colleges Try to Comfort Students Upset by Trump Victory
Despair over Clinton's loss prompts ‘cry-in’ at Cornell; Play-Doh for the distraught
By MELISSA KORN AND DOUGLAS BELKIN
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/11/0 ... p-victory/
Dozens of students at Cornell University gathered on a major campus thoroughfare for a “cry-in” to mourn the results of the 2016 presidential election Wednesday, with school staff providing tissues and hot chocolate.
At Tufts University, arts and crafts were on offer. And the University of Kansas reminded students via social media of the therapy dogs available for comfort every other Wednesday.
Colleges nationwide scrambled to help students process Republican Donald Trump’s stunning election victory. They’re acknowledging that many students were up late watching results and so may not be at their sharpest in early-morning lectures. More so, they’re responding to a widespread sense of shock and despair on campuses to the victory of a candidate who offended Mexicans, Gold Star mothers, Muslims and the disabled during the course of the campaign.
The touchy-feely approach won some catty comments from skeptics, calling students “snow-flakes” for their inability to handle the result. But schools said the concerns were real for many students. “People are frustrated, people are just really sad and shocked,” said Trey Boynton, the director of multi-ethnic student affairs at the University of Michigan. “A lot of people are feeling like there has been a loss. We talked about grief today and about the loss of hope that this election would solidify the progress that was being made.”
There was a steady flow of students entering Ms. Boynton’s office Wednesday. They spent the day sprawled around the center, playing with Play-Doh and coloring in coloring books, as they sought comfort and distraction.
“There is unspeakable shock at the manifestation of hate and bigotry that is on par with how people felt when Orlando happened, when Charleston happened,” she said. “This feels different from those events, but there is the same sort of heaviness today on campus today. Everyone is very quiet. It looks like grief.”
There were also celebrations on campuses by supporters of Mr. Trump. Ben Kaplan, head of Tufts Democrats, said that as some supporters of Hillary Clinton cried, portions of a campus center erupted in cheers as each state was called for Mr. Trump Tuesday night.
Alex Walker, son of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and chairman of the College Republicans of University of Wisconsin-Madison, which endorsed Mr. Trump, said that despite early shock, students “seemed to have accepted the results and were getting back to their normal routines.” The school tweeted around midday that the multicultural student center’s lounge was open all day for drop-ins, noting “all are welcome.”The MSC Lounge in the Red Gym is open all day today for drop-ins. All are welcome.Mr. Walker said concerns about Mr. Trump’s heated rhetoric on immigration and other issues were “overblown,” adding that the president-elect’s acceptance speech had “a very calm and unifying message.”
Still, Alan Peel, an astronomy lecturer at the University of Maryland canceled a test scheduled for Wednesday morning, writing to students that he worried some of their performances may be affected by “the monumental effort necessary to accept what must be a personally threatening election result.” He opened the message, “Given that the nation in which you currently reside decided last night to elect a president whose own words have painted him a moral and possibly physical hazard to many of us…,” according to a copy reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Julia Abraham, a 19-year-old student in the class, said she was relieved by the news and supported her professor’s decision. “Our class is very diverse,” she said, including “many who are directly targeted by Mr. Trump.” She said she thought “a bit of grieving time” would allow students to perform better on the test down the line.
Morgan Polikoff, a professor at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education, also canceled his Wednesday class. He told the 11 students in his Ph.D. statistics course on election night that they didn’t have to come if they didn’t want to; by the time he woke up, six said they weren’t up for meeting.
Hofstra University’s Intercultural Engagement and Inclusion office hosted a session Wednesday called “A Way Forward: A Discussion on the 2016 Presidential Election.” The event advertisement on Twitter said it would allow “diverse voices of the campus community” to discuss the election and “how we move forward together with civility, as a nation and Hofstra community.”
The university—which hosted the first Presidential debate this election cycle—aimed to keep that event and a facilitated discussion later in the day led by the school’s dean of students and assistant vice president Sofia Pertuz open to students of all political stripes.
“The students that seem to be calling out for our support right now are those who are upset about the results,” Ms. Pertuz said. “But I am aware that we have staff and students who are happy about the results.”
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http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/29922/
