Election season ought to create a stir on college campuses, in a positive sense, by promoting civic engagement and civil discussion about major issues. This season, however, has fostered a climate that may be creating inordinate amounts of anxiety for our peers.
While many millennials may feel apathetic toward the election, University students of particular backgrounds have special reason to worry about how the rhetoric in this election is normalizing varying degrees of offensive behavior. Though we can’t draw a bright line between Donald Trump supporters yelling “Hang that bitch!” in reference to Hillary Clinton and someone graffiting racial slurs in first-year housing, a significant number of students feel threatened both by what they see in their Facebook feeds and in their own dorms.
Whatever the intentions behind the IMP Society’s alleged prank suggesting the Z Society endorsed Trump, student reactions from those who believed the letter — including frustration, dismay and bewilderment — demonstrate the level of tension on Grounds with respect to the election and the issues it’s brought up.
Even more than in past elections, many students have a personal stake in what policies are in play with the next president. The potential deportation of all undocumented immigrants — who may be students themselves — adds a unique level of gravity to the ongoing immigration debate. The normalization of white supremacy — in the form of endorsements and campaign rhetoric — fuels one of the ugliest fissures in American politics. This all comes at a time when many of us are grappling with how to enter the workforce and what’s in store after leaving Grounds.
On a given day, these issues could be affecting the mental health of many of our peers. In classroom settings and throughout University life, we should take care to create the climate we expect of our elected officials, and not mimic the one they are creating now.
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