UNC's campus reacts to a Trump presidency

An American-born Muslim female UNC student walks down Franklin Street and hears shouts of “Go Trump, you lost.” An American-born Hispanic male UNC student is scared of having to drop out of college because his parents may be deported.

This is how UNC is reacting to the 2016 presidential election.

“I think we have certainly seen a broad range of emotions and reactions that are no different than what we see in society,” said Jonathan Sauls, dean of students for student affairs. “There are folks that are very distressed about things from a direct policy standpoint. There are folks who are understandably unsettled by the rhetoric that has been used and what it portends.”

But various organizations at UNC aren’t letting the rhetoric scare them, and they are working to show students that there are safe spaces.

“We were very shocked and disappointed that someone that espouses this dangerous, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic, racist and anti-Semitic rhetoric was elected to the highest voice in the land,” said president of UNC Muslim Students Association Ayoub Ouederni.

Ouederni said members of his organization gathered in a prayer room on campus the day after the election to talk about their reactions. He said they plan to hold more events, but right now he encourages his members to report incidents of hate crimes or attacks.

“We’ve heard about a couple incidents, especially on Franklin Street about members or Muslims, especially Muslim girls with the head scarf on because they are more identifiable of being harassed,” he said. “People shouting ‘Go Trump, you lost’ — unnecessary stuff.”

Ray Garcia, co-president of Carolina Hispanic Association, said his members are frustrated and fearful because of the uncertainty the election has caused with President-elect Donald Trump’s stance on immigration.

Garcia said this uncertainty affects him personally because his parents are not U.S. citizens.

“If they get deported, we don’t have any other family members here. If they get deported, I have to go home and take care of my siblings,” he said. “Point blank, I have to go do that.”

But Garcia wants to lessen that fear for students by making UNC a sanctuary campus for undocumented students. CHispA helped create a petition which has already received thousands of signatures that urges UNC to refuse releasing information regarding immigration status of students and community members to immigration authorities.

Garcia said he also partnered with Campus Y to organize the campus walkout the day after the election, where students met on the steps of South Building to voice their concerns and fears about the election.

Courtney Sams, president of UNC Young Democrats, said members of the Young Democrats are not letting the election dishearten them, but they are motivated by it.

“They want to know what they can do next now that we’ve lost the presidential election and didn’t take back the House or the Senate,” she said. “Members are really fired up about the midterm election and want to know what they can do to start on taking back our country.”

She said although her members are motivated, they still have concerns.

“We’ve had debriefing meetings about what this election means and how we can help people who might be afraid,” she said. “We’re really just trying to keep ourselves open to any ways we can help our members.”

Hayden Vick, chairperson for UNC College Republicans, said the organization is recognizing the election as a success for Republicans, but members of the organization are split in half with Trump supporters and dissenters.

He said the organization’s main focus now is uniting the Republican Party because there has been a lot of dissension toward Trump, not just from Democrats but also from Republicans.

“That’s been obvious and apparent, and there’s no question about it but that being said, we want to focus on uniting the party because whether we’re Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green Party — this is now our president,” Vick said.

Sauls said with all the uncertainty after the election, it’s important to let people know their feelings are authentic.

“This election comes on the heels of a period of time that I think has been a real struggle for the country and for the University around tremendous polarization,” he said.

“I think one of the most unhelpful things we can say, to anyone for any reason, is ‘you shouldn’t feel that way.’”

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