In 2016, the election of President Trump caught colleges off guard.
On many campuses, protests exploded late into election night and lasted several days, with students often clashing across political lines. Racist and hateful incidents escalated throughout November. Some students’ mental health worsened, as they felt like their very identities were under attack by the nation’s endorsement of a man who had made offensive comments about people of color and other groups.
This time around, college officials want to be prepared.
As the country braces for another contentious election — this time in the throes of a pandemic — administrators want higher ed to serve as a venue for thoughtful discussion. Campuses are promoting opportunities to learn from experts about the political process and to talk about the election, mostly virtually. Counseling centers are creating support groups and drop-in spaces for students to air their anxieties, whichever way the election results go.
But in 2020, political conversations haven’t always remained thoughtful. Many institutions — especially those in major cities and swing states — are beefing up their public-safety plans, in case rioting and violence touch college campuses.
At George Washington University, less than a mile from the White House, campus officials emailed students last week, telling them to stock up on food and other essentials, in case of prolonged election-related unrest in Washington, D.C.
“We suggest preparing for the Election Day period as you would for a hurricane or a snowstorm that would prevent you from going outside for several days to grab food or order takeout,” the email stated.
An earlier message from the university directed students on campus to close and lock doors, carry identification at all times, and not let any strangers into university buildings.
“While we do not anticipate access restrictions around our campus, it is possible given the unrest that has been seen in D.C. and around the country in the past several months,” wrote Crystal Nosal, a spokeswoman for George Washington, in an email. Nosal said the university was following the lead of D.C. officials “in preparing for a very active election season.”
‘They’re Already Fragile’
At American University, a few miles north, Fanta Aw, vice president for campus life and inclusive excellence, said her office started talking about plans for the election over the summer.
Though classes are online this semester and most students aren’t living on campus, Aw said, American’s students are very politically active. After Trump’s 2016 victory, students burned American flags as part of a campus protest. Amid today’s tensions surrounding Covid-19 and racial injustice, she said, university officials knew they’d need to prepare for a challenging fall with “ongoing unrest.”
American has canceled classes on Election Day, created an Election Stress Survival Kit, and planned several expert panels focused on politics. But the campus-life office is not hosting any student-dialogue events during election week, Aw said. That’s in response to feedback from students, who said they were Zoom fatigued. Instead, a virtual drop-in space will allow students to simply be together. Faculty members have also been preparing to discuss the election in their classes, Aw said.
At Trinity Washington University, President Patricia McGuire has held a semester-long series of virtual campus conversations, which have drawn 50 to 100 students, professors, and staff members each week, said Carlota Ocampo, the provost. The most recent one focused on the election’s potential effects on mental health. The student government has planned a virtual Election-Night watch party for students with faculty moderators, Ocampo said, and there will be meditation and reflection sessions throughout the week.
The kinds of campaigning and language that we have heard are producing real concern, no matter which way the election goes.
“Either way, people are going to want to talk,” she said.
Some students from marginalized backgrounds felt particularly vulnerable after the 2016 election, and that could be true again this year, Ocampo said. Trinity Washington enrolls mostly Black and Hispanic women. A recent university survey found that students’ top concerns going into the election were racial equity and justice. Next on the list were the future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and immigration.
“They’re already fragile, they’re already stressed, they’re already dealing with a lot,” Ocampo said, amid the pandemic, racism, and economic turmoil. “On top of that, you have this incredibly polarized moment, where the kinds of campaigning and language that we have heard are producing real concern, no matter which way the election goes, about what’s going to happen next.”
Many campus counseling centers are planning support groups moderated by counseling staff, said David Reetz, president of the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors.
At Rochester Institute of Technology, where Reetz directs counseling and psychological services, there will be separate virtual drop-in spaces for right-wing supporters, left-wing supporters, and students who are middle of the road. The groups are scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday during election week and the next, and will continue if students want them. It’s the first time the institution has done anything like it.
“We’re trying to be very explicit about who would be in this group,” Reetz said. Support-group members are supposed to share similar beliefs. If a student joins a group dedicated to the opposite viewpoint, that student will be removed, he said.
Nationwide, counseling centers are offering election support groups for students of all political backgrounds, along with identity-based spaces for students of color and other communities, Reetz said. They’re increasing walk-in hours, too.
Reetz said he’s not sure how many students will turn out for Rochester’s political-support groups. Often, the mental-health impacts of major events are delayed, he said. “There isn’t that initial impulse to seek out assistance,” he said. “There’s almost this paralysis that happens.”
Still, Reetz said, he wants to make sure students have places to productively deal with any anger, frustration, and stress that stem from the election results, whatever they are. He and other administrators hope students can process what they’re experiencing and air their grievances by connecting with peers, mental-health professionals, and expert facilitators.
‘A Real Fine Line’
But college officials know reactions to the election could turn into something more intense.
Starting Friday, the University of Virginia opened an “incident command center” including representatives from law enforcement, student affairs, and other campus offices.
UVa officials are monitoring social-media channels and communicating with local police about the potential of outside agitators coming to the campus or the city of Charlottesville, said Allen W. Groves, dean of students. While no threats are known at this point, Groves said, the university isn’t taking any chances.
That’s understandable: In 2017, the campus was overrun by white supremacists marching with torches for the two-day “Unite the Right” rally, during which a right-wing extremist killed a counterprotester in Charlottesville. An independent review later found that UVa leaders hadn’t taken the threat of the white supremacists seriously enough, and had fallen short in their planning to keep the campus safe.
That report was authored by Timothy J. Heaphy, now the university’s general counsel. During election week, Heaphy said, the university’s priorities will be protecting students’ free-speech rights to protest, while also preserving safety and public health. Currently, gatherings over 10 people at UVa are banned due to Covid-19. But, Heaphy said, constitutionally protected demonstrations would be exempt from the restrictions, as long as people were socially distanced and wore masks.
“We want to provide space and opportunity for students to come out and gather but also make sure it doesn’t turn into a superspreader event,” Groves, the dean of students, said.
The Unite the Right rally in 2017 wasn’t the only political unrest to roil UVa in recent years. During the fall of 2016, the university received nearly 50 bias reports, more than in the previous three years combined, Groves said. People drove through campus and shouted racist epithets and other offensive comments at students. Hateful fliers appeared in the middle of the night.
This fall, only a couple of bias reports have come in so far, but officials are prepared in case there’s an upswing this month, he said.
Campus public-safety departments are walking “a real fine line,” said Josh Bronson, director of training for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. They’ll have to protect on-campus polling places and ensure that protests don’t get out of hand, while also accounting for the fact that many students and others on campus are wary of law enforcement’s presence, especially in light of the national conversation about police brutality.
“They don’t want to act as an intimidating factor,” Bronson said.
While public universities like UVa must protect political speech, private colleges have more leeway to impose restrictions. At American, a private institution, all on-campus gatherings have been suspended this semester, including protests and demonstrations. While Aw said officials will be ready to manage any events that crop up on campus, she expected many students to join election-related rallies in downtown D.C.
“Our students will want to be part of a larger movement,” she said.
‘No Universal Good Outcome’
Officials on many campuses said a successful election week would end with students feeling like their voices were heard. But some worry about the uncertainty that could result if the presidential election isn’t decided right away. With far more people voting by mail this year than in the past, because of the pandemic, some states may not finish tallying votes for several days.
At UVa, many students have been involved in Black Lives Matter protests and in campaigning this year, and they’ve registered to vote in large numbers, said Groves. They’re more invested, and therefore more vulnerable, to anxiety or disappointment. UVa has been ramping up its educational efforts to help students understand how elections work and how policy is actually made, he said.
Reetz is concerned that some students will come out of the election “losing faith in the political process,” and that other students will continue to fear judgment of their political views. “There’s no universal good outcome to this election,” he said.
Most students lean liberal, said Kevin Kruger, president of Naspa: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. But if Biden wins, colleges must be sure they’re prepared to support disappointed Trump-backing students, too, he said.
“If higher ed as an enterprise doesn’t do the same for the conservatives as they did in 2016 for the progressives,” Kruger said, “then that would be unfortunate.”
