Taking The Temperature on Campus Post Election

Despite the grandeur of the presidential election, Loyola students and staff carried on with their lives Wednesday, Nov. 6 after President-elect Donald Trump clinched the electoral college and popular vote.

With the passing of daylight savings Nov. 3, Loyola’s campus is pitch black by 5:30 p.m., matching the post-election gloom observed by some in the Loyola community. In interviews with The Phoenix, students and a faculty member shared their observations of the Loyola community.

Landon Hulser, a second-year political science and economics double major, worked as a constituent services intern for congresswoman Schakowsky’s campaign this spring. He said the mood around campus has felt noticeably bleak.

“The feeling around campus, at least for me, has been gut-wrenchingly horrifying,” Hulser said. “Especially knowing we likely won’t know anything concrete about Trump’s cabinet until the new year. Everything feels suspended and numb.”

Trump has already appointed four cabinet positions to Pete Hegseth, a co-host for a subsidiary of FOX news, Kristi Noem, the 33rd governor of South Dakota, William McGinley, a lawyer from Trump’s first administration and John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman, The Associated Press reported.

Hulser also lobbies and does advocacy work for Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice, a Catholic social justice group. The organization aims to network, educate and form advocates for social justice, according to their mission statement.

“When you work for an organization trying to have their voice heard, it’s important to go to all three levels,” Hulser said. “Yes, usually city and state leaders are more willing to listen to you than a national leader, but each level has different ways of getting resources to people who need them. It’s our job as people who live in America to let our representatives know how we think they’re doing.”

Professor Christopher Whidden, senior lecturer in the Interdisciplinary Honors Program, said he observed students in his classes to be downtrodden in the days following the presidential election. His teaching interests include political philosophy and American political thought.

“What’s very clear to me, as a political theorist and also from reading all of these old, great books, is democracy is fickle,” Whidden said. “For the next two years, we know we’ll be in a red wave.”

The House of Representatives requires a 218 majority for party control. Democrats have 206 elected representatives and Republicans 214 as of Nov. 12, AP reported.

“The Republicans definitely have the Senate, and it looks like they’re going to hold the House,” Whidden said. “Right now, the reality is we have a red wave. But that’s the next two years, not the rest of our lifetimes. We can’t become prisoners of the moment. I’ve been telling students who need cheering up — there is no doubt in my mind there will be multiple blue waves in your lifetime. They’re coming, but I can’t say when exactly.”

Student organizations hosted previously scheduled events throughout the week. Loyola Inside Government held a “First 100 days in Office” panel which hosted speakers such as Leslie Perkins, Ald. Maria Hadden’s (49th) chief of staff. The Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conflict Resolution Team held a “Processing Election Results Circle,” The Phoenix reported.

Ella Daugherty, a second-year environmental studies major, worked as a field intern over the summer on Gloria Johnson’s senate campaign. She said she’s seen a sense of quiet introspection following the election.

“After election day, there was an unspoken sadness,” Daugherty said. “People didn’t talk about the election much, but my classmates seemed less engaged. Since Wednesday, people have still been talking about the next steps for our country, but I think the dialogue has opened a bit more to be more hopeful about the future.”

Daughtery said for the country to truly be a democracy, everyone needs to be civically involved. 

Jarilo Perkovic, a first-year classical civilization major, said he’d discussed past presidential campaigns run by women in his women’s studies course. 

“The first two days after the election, everybody was very solemn,” Perkovic said. “People were crying and obviously distressed. I was tracking election results until two in the morning and thinking to myself, ‘I’m so tired and so over my life.’ Things have somewhat returned to normal since, but there’s still a baseline worry about things. When did we start teaching that a president always has to be a clown?”