University reaches out to students in response to the election
The election results have had everyone on their toes, and the colleges are reaching out
In response to the stressful election that happened yesterday, many of the colleges at MSU are sending out emails of support. Lyman Briggs College, Communication Arts and Sciences and James Madison College are some of the first to send these emails.
The Lyman Briggs email addresses how stressful this election was, especially for women and members of the LGBT+ community and minorities. In response, they are holding discussions today at 7pm to talk about how to move forward after Trump’s win. Lyman Briggs is one of the most diverse colleges on campus, and they recognize that this is a difficult time for many. The college is here to discuss how to move forward.
The Comm Arts and Sciences’s email was a little more formal. With a reminder to be respectful of the election results and to not put down anyone, regardless of opinion, they make sure to remain neutral. They did provide advising today from 1pm to 4pm. The college emphasized allowing for all emotional responses to the election without backlash; they recognized that our campus illustrates the political divide in America right now, and they only want everyone to empathize with views that conflict with their own.
The response by James Madison runs somewhat in between the responses by Lyman Brigs and Comm Arts and Sciences. While recognizing that everyone is stressed and emotional, they also wanted to make sure that everyone felt they had a safe place to go to to talk about the election results. The college also made sure to note that any innapropriate behavior would not be condoned or tolerated regarding political and nonpolitical issues.
Although MSU and its colleges have provided emails of support to those of us negatively affected by the results of yesterday’s election, their language has been very neutral, so it’s hard to tell if they truly support us. The colleges recognize that this is a rough time for a lot of people, and university politics can sometimes get in the way of expressing that. The fact that they have provided so many safe spaces and lines of support still makes me have faith that they support those of us who are terrified of what the next four years have in store, and I think the colleges couldn’t have phrased those sentiments in any other way.