Safe spaces, canceled exams and therapy ducks: How colleges help students ‘cope’ after election

(Daily Caller News Foundation) – Universities are decrying President-elect Donald Trump’s victory and offering a swath of therapeutic safe-space activities to help students cope with their emotions.

Several universities are offering counseling services and special post-election debriefing events on campus, while professors canceled classes and called for a rise against the future administration, according to emails obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“I am cancelling class today to grieve the presidential election results,” Shlagha Borah, an assistant professor at Michigan State University (MSU), wrote to students in a class announcement Wednesday. “As a queer, immigrant woman of colour, I cannot, in good conscience, go on about my day like everything is alright. This is a major historical event that we are witnessing. I hope you take this time to take care of yourself.”

MSU also offered students a “safe space” featuring therapy dogs, coloring books and free hugs, according to an email from Jodi Hancock, a “director for student success” at the university.

The university’s political science college hosted a “post-election debrief” and offered counseling resources for students, according to an email from the college’s dean. MSU’s Counseling and Psychiatric Services also created an “election care kit” document detailing “coping tips” such as “connect with nature” and “take breaks from media consumption.”

Neither MSU, Borah nor Hancock immediately responded to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Academics and leaders from various universities also vowed to “stand up against” the incoming Trump administration, fearing cuts to higher education and promising not to comply with future immigration policy.

“We are deeply concerned that the ongoing crisis in higher education of declining public funding, ballooning student debt, and attacks on academic freedom, will only be intensified under the incoming administration,” Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), wrote in a statement Thursday. “The AAUP is committed to defending our campuses and the mission of higher education through organizing our communities to face the challenges that lie ahead. Our collective power is needed now more than ever. To that end, we will do everything in our power to protect our institutions, faculty, staff, and students and stand up against those seeking to violate academic freedom and the core principle of higher education conducted for the common good.”

“The mass deportations promised by president-elect Trump threaten our students who may be undocumented and are a cause of great concern to many in our community,” Michael S. Roth, president of Wesleyan University, announced on Wednesday. “The University will not voluntarily assist in any efforts by the federal government to deport our students, faculty or staff solely because of their citizenship status. Today, the work to defend the most vulnerable has never been more important.”

The university president also promised to “redouble” diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.

“Candidate Trump promised to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion departments and to punish those schools who do not live up to his version of civil rights standards,” Roth wrote. “At Wesleyan we have long believed in the educational power of diversity, and we know that our Office for Equity and Inclusion has a vital role to play in our educational mission. We will redouble our efforts to enhance belonging while we cultivate a greater pluralism. That work has never been more important.”

“The attacks on higher education, on democracy, on the rule of law, threaten to sweep away freedoms that have been hard-won over the last 100 years,” Roth continued. “We must reject the cultivated ignorance that is used to fan the flames of hatred.”

Wesleyan did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Along with psychiatric services, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) equipped students with “visa-related support” for those facing immigration concerns.

An honors program at the University of Iowa (UI) offered students class credit for attending election reflection events such as “destress” yoga and a “cognitive reappraisal workshop.”

Several other universities offered students an opportunity to “share how they have been emotionally and psychologically impacted by the election,” such as the University at Buffalo (UB) in New York.

Georgetown University unveiled a post-election “Self-Care Suite” including milk and cookies as well as “mindfulness activities” such as coloring and Legos, according to The Free Press. Many Harvard University professors canceled classes and extended assignment deadlines to allow students to “recover” from the election results, the Harvard Crimson reported.

Facing pressure from students, one University of Pennsylvania professor (UPenn) rescheduled an exam that was set to take place shortly after the election, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian.

The University of Oregon presented therapy animals for election week, including “Quacktavious the Therapy Duck,” according to the university’s event page.

UCLA, UI, UB, Georgetown, Harvard, UPenn, the University of Oregon and the AAUP did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.