I can still remember the sounds of my peers screaming and crying on November 8, 2016 when Donald Trump was declared the President-Elect. It came as a shock to many Mount Holyoke students, many of whom had been vocal Clinton or Sanders supporters, as few suspected that Trump would actually win the election considering the controversy that surrounded his campaign. Regardless, he did manage to win 304 electoral votes, far more than the 270 required to win, despite losing the popular vote by over 2.8 million voters. As soon as the news came out, what had been an evening of hope for many Mount Holyoke students, who wished to see the first woman get elected President of the United States, became a night of fear. In a matter of hours, the laughs and joyful shouting that had been present at many Election Day parties across campus turned to screams, sobs, and whimpers.
I had been with my roommate in our dorm when the news became official. Despite being on the third floor of a 24-hour quiet dorm, we could hear people screaming from both within the building and outside. Besides the few Trump supporters on campus, no one was celebrating that night. I remember crying that night.
The following day I missed class, my absence excused by my understanding professors. When I left my dorm that morning to get something to eat from a dining hall, the campus was eerily silent. My friends who managed to go to class that day told me how many classes were missing students. Professors seemed visibly shaken, especially after the scandal in which a Mount Holyoke student secretly filmed a professor speaking about the election, leading to an online attack by conservative cyber-bullies on the MHC Facebook page. This also resulted in many professors adopting policies explicitly banning the use of recording devices in the classroom without accommodations. However, many took comfort in the fact that we’d have a few months to prepare for the Trump presidency. Some students protested the President-Elect just days after. Many even decided to be hopeful, expecting President Trump to be far more moderate than his campaign would suggest.
Fast-forward to January 20, 2017, the day of the Inauguration. As we had not yet returned to school from winter break, nothing occurred on campus to mark the occasion. However, Mount Holyoke students have continued to be very vocal, mostly in opposition but a few in support, of our new President. Many students participated in the Women’s March, both in Washington D.C. and in their hometowns. Their activism extends to social media as well. Ever since President Trump was sworn into office, my social media feeds have transformed into a springboard for political discussion. Rarely do I see anything other than politics when logging into Facebook or Twitter. Mount Holyoke students refuse to remain silent when faced with legislation that could and will harm members of the student body and global citizens.
As a Mount Holyoke student, I am immensely proud of my peers for standing up for what they believe in, for striving towards equal rights for everyone. It is true that all Mount Holyoke students are leaders, standing strong and banding together no matter how difficult times may get. Even though I am frightened by the uncertainty of what else may come during the next four years, I am comforted by the fact that I am surrounded by my peers who will keep me and others safe, and remind those who are targeted by hateful rhetoric that they matter, and that they are loved. Though we are all still frazzled by the onslaught of executive orders, memorandums, and travel bans, we refuse to remain uninformed. We refuse to be silent, many of us posting our reflections and opinions online or joining protests. Our administration stands in solidarity with us as well, providing us resources to help navigate our way through the next four years. Even though we are afraid, none of us are alone. We will always have each other and the Mount Holyoke community to keep us strong.
Images: Cover, Facebook
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