By Lina McDonald
Former President Donald J. Trump made history on Tuesday, Nov. 5, becoming only the second president to be re-elected to office after an electoral defeat. Trump defeated the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, after obtaining a total of 312 electoral votes and the popular vote.
The executive branch isn’t the only section of the government that will be under Republican control: the party took control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Supreme Court is also controlled by a conservative majority. Chris Kendall, Chair of the Politics and Government department at Puget Sound, emphasized how influential the GOP’s trifecta could be on the country’s history. Following the transition of power in January, the Democratic party will have no majority in any government branch.
“The Democratic party is 100 percent an opposition party. An opposition party means you have no power,” said Kendall. “They can resist rhetorically, but there’s no ability to stop things.” In addition, Kendall remarked that Republicans would be able to pass far more initiatives than in past years since many members of Congress would agree on policy goals.
Members of the campus community — ranging from students to faculty and staff — have expressed strong emotions and uncertainty for the next four years following the election. Max Niedergang (‘28) says he felt disappointed and frustrated by the election results. This was Niedergang’s first time voting in a presidential election, as was the case for many Puget Sound students.
“I felt a sense of betrayal by both the country and the Democratic party for failing to win,” Niedergang, a history major, said. “I saw fascism as a truly unacceptable position to hold and I felt like the country had failed to prevent its winning in an election.”
Kendall noticed a shift in his class dynamics following the election.
“Some were visibly upset, and for various reasons: because of just a general sense of uncertainty,” Kendall said. “For others, it was a sense of specific fears about what could happen in terms of policies, both for themselves and for their families.”
President-elect Trump’s policy goals will likely restrict the freedoms of higher education institutions both financially and in terms of their curriculum. President Biden has made advances in student loan forgiveness throughout his term, which Trump is expected to work to repeal, with a focus on the Saving on a Valuable Education plan (SAVE). Biden’s administration launched SAVE in 2023, which has canceled more than $116 billion in debt for Americans. Trump is not expected to maintain SAVE.
In addition, the president-elect has pledged to abolish the Department of Education (DOE), which regulates Pell Grants and student loan repayment plans. The DOE is also home to the Office of Civil Rights, which protects students from discrimination. In the past, Trump has supported policies that make it harder for victims of sexual assault, often at college campuses, to gain justice by expanding protections for accused perpetrators. LGBTQ+ students could also risk having their protections restricted if Title IX is amended, as many Republicans have publicly encouraged.
Additional concern focuses on reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. For Puget Sound students, however, on-campus changes are not expected. Counseling, Health and Wellness Services (CHWS) stated that, unless serious federal changes occur, students should expect the same services from CHWS. Danielle Bus, RN, CHWS’s Wellness Education and Prevention Specialist, emphasized that students could expect CHWS to support student wellbeing in any way possible, especially in times of uncertainty.
“We can’t control any federal policies,” Bus said. “I would imagine that the state of Washington is going to try and preserve all of the rights and policies that we currently have in place. We will continue to offer our services indefinitely. We wouldn’t stop unless there was a mandate.”
CHWS currently offers care ranging from traditional checkups to gynecological exams, STI testing and gender-affirming care. In addition, the campus organization also provides several birth control options, including Plan B, all of which are funded without support from federal sources.
“Our funding for CHWS is funding that the University provides. We’re not using federal funds or state funds to provide healthcare,” Bus said. This offers a further layer of protection for CHWS services to continue in the future.
Kendall commented that this outcome shouldn’t discourage political participation on campus. “It seemed like, eight years ago, the response I saw from a lot of students was a desire to retreat from politics in sort of a protective stance,” Kendall said. “The reactions I’ve heard articulated by students this time is much more a desire to double down, be resilient and engage in some self-care, but to be more active.”
Niedergang echoed this view and encouraged students to stay vigilant in the political world.
“As someone who’s involved with activism, the next four years are going to be really important and it’s important to not think of this as the end, but as the beginning to fight back,” Niedergang said.