Emotional reaction to Donald Trump’s election runs deep on college campuses

Bryn Mawr College president Wendy Cadge suggested in a message to the campus Wednesday to set aside a space as a “politics-free zone” where “we honor the many different ways people are responding to the election.”

Swarthmore College’s political and sociology faculty hosted a panel discussion to “reflect on election night and the future of American democracy.”

And at a Villanova University residence hall late Tuesday, cheers and groans echoed through the halls as former President Donald Trump’s path to victory became evident. Some students said they were so despondent at the outcome they didn’t even go to class Wednesday morning.

» READ MORE: Long lines reported near Philly-area colleges, prompting hours-long waits and a visit from Paul Rudd

But mostly around the Philadelphia region’s college campuses on Wednesday, the mood was contrasted with the excitement and high turnout of the day before — with life going on as usual. Classes were conducted, students strolled quads, and people processed their strong emotions about Trump’s surprise rout of Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Everybody I’ve talked to, the faculty, they are down today, they are sad,” said Kenneth M. Mash, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties.

But he said it will take time to process what it all means for colleges.

“When the door closes on a certain level of government, you have to look toward your local administrations and … state governments for increased protections,” Mash said.

Ben Berger, the associate professor of political science who moderated the Swarthmore panel Wednesday afternoon, emphasized “the importance in American politics of pluralism and being willing to compromise and sometimes even hold your nose to make coalitions with other groups of citizens who might agree with you on many things but not all things.”

» READ MORE: College students could have big sway in this election. Here’s how Philly-area campuses are turning out.

On campus, Berger said, a small but vocal group of students expressed anger and frustration at the college’s get-out-the-vote effort and urged others not to vote, because they didn’t agree with Harris or Trump on policy. Today, there is anger among the voters with those who were pushing abstention, he said.

“We’ll see if that becomes a deeper fault line or whether it passes quickly,” said Berger, who also is the executive director of Swarthmore’s Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. “I just hope it’s the case that Swarthmore and many colleges and universities are able and have buy-in from students and faculty to use this episode as a learning experience about how people think and act and vote, and how best to try to get what they want from the democratic process.”

Some were extremely angry.

“I feel like America voted for an abuser and bully and openly racist person,” said Ray Epstein, Temple University’s student government president, who emphasized that she was speaking as an individual, not as the student leader. “I’m just so angry at the fact that some people are in positions where they have the ability and privilege to ignore how one person’s beliefs and policies could impact people who are not like them, and they lack so much empathy that they are willing to prioritize things like the economy, which doesn’t even make sense when you look into Trump’s history [with bankruptcies].”

Epstein, founder and president of the Temple group Student Activists Against Sexual Assault, is most concerned about the potential erosion of Title IX, which prohibits sexual harassment and discrimination on college campuses, and the potential elimination of the federal Education Department, which oversees compliance.

“We may be forced to attend college with our abusers without any option of justice on our campus,” said the senior from Washington, D.C. “I think we will see survivor dropout rates increase exponentially.”

Gus Fadden, a West Chester University senior from Frankford, Del., who leads the College Republicans club, was equally emotional — in a different way.

“This is insane — Trump winning the popular vote was never something I had in the cards,” he said. “What Trump did is successfully define himself as this change candidate and defined Kamala Harris as everything Americans thought was wrong about the direction of the country.”

He recalled how, when he first arrived on campus in 2021, people were reluctant to even say Trump’s name. That changed dramatically this semester, he said. When he handed out Trump stickers in the weeks before the election, more than half the time, he said, he got positive reinforcement.

“Now more than ever, people are enthused to speak their mind and stand up for what they feel,” he said. “It was a complete energy shift, unlike anything I could imagine.”

He said he looks forward to seeing America become prosperous again and having it be economically feasible for people to raise families.

Cadge, the Bryn Mawr president, underscored in her message the strong emotions people involved in the election process may feel.

“I encourage all of us to be real with one another today, to offer grace, and to be kind as we begin, together, to process the election’s outcomes and unite as a community regardless of our individual political views,” she wrote.

At the University of Pennsylvania, leaves fluttered onto Locust Walk as hundreds of students filed in and out of buildings or gathered by cafe tables, their heads lost in phones or laptops. Some were laughing, others holding hands or focused on a book, but Zara Raven, a graduate student, was writing in chalk on the bricks about Palestine.

For Raven, 35, the campus’s postelection vibe Wednesday could not be separated from the conflict in the Middle East. She was just as disappointed in the election results as she has been about the war.

“I think some of us were not surprised because we already saw, for example, trans rights and abortion laws being struck down,” she said. “It’s been tense on this campus for a while now.”

One student said only those who made “their whole identity about the election” would feel devastated by Trump’s victory. A student sitting in green space off Locust Walk said the reality probably had not dawned on most students.

“They are probably sleeping in,” she said. “Because it’s horrible.”

John Phebus and Dan Friedberg, who work near Penn, were eating salad by a volleyball court off Locust Walk. Phebus said the campus felt “chilled.”

“Personally, I am disappointed with the outcome,” Friedberg said, “but I guess it’s a little easier the second time around.”

At Villanova, one student couldn’t help but contrast her sad mood Wednesday with Tuesday, when actor Paul Rudd was on campus and excitement was everywhere. Elise, who asked that her last name not be used out of privacy concerns, is from Louisiana, and said it was thrilling to vote in such an important swing state.

Sophomore Elon Rutty, 19, said it was too soon to gauge the overall campus vibe.

“People are letting the dust settle now, and no one’s been super negative or positive today,” Rutty said. “On my social media, it’s mixed.”

Mash, the state university union leader, said the long lines outside polling places on or near some college campuses need to be addressed. At one polling place near Lehigh University in Bethlehem, some reported waits as long as seven hours.

“It’s completely disenfranchising to students,” he said. “Nobody should be required to stand in line three, four, five hours to be able to exercise their right to vote.”