To say the mood on Swarthmore’s campus is dark would be putting it lightly. On Wednesday, Nov. 6, silence filled most major walkways as students exchanged long, comforting embraces and — sometimes through tears — expressed their worries about potential issues surrounding access to healthcare, immigration statuses, climate change, and free speech in the years to come under the second Trump presidency. The 47th administration looms over us all, with signs indicating it will be even more extreme than the 45th. The second iteration of the Trump presidency is now a reality we must confront.
It is not just the new president that the campus community is contemplating, but also the persistence of a deeply divided electorate whose narrow majority chose a convicted felon and sexual abuser who has spewed racist and misogynistic language for years on end. While national divisions are always present, a monumental election like Tuesday’s serves as a reminder of how these divisions have grown over the course of our lifetimes. The Republicans not only won control of the presidency on Tuesday, but they also clinched the Senate and, at the time of publication, lead the Democrats in the effort to control the House. Swarthmore does not exist in a vacuum: our campus will need to grapple with the new political reality of the U.S.
In the years to come, the Trump administration will use the full powers of the federal executive branch to hijack many of the policy-enforcing agencies within it, but also to yield power over legislators, the courts, and state and local governments. The decisions they make will affect students, faculty, staff, and those close to them. There will be thousands of these decisions: some will be clear, and others will be clouded in jargon and intentional opaqueness. It is the responsibility of the media to ensure that these decisions, easily understood or otherwise, are publicized and explained. At The Phoenix, it’s part of our responsibility to investigate and report on what Trump’s return to office and the subsequent policy outcomes will mean for the Swarthmore community. While we won’t necessarily be on Capitol Hill or in the White House briefing room anytime soon, we’ll be diligently investigating how the college and its neighboring communities — including the cities of Philadelphia and Chester — are impacted by Trump’s second term. This semester, we have already started to cover what a Trump administration could mean for things like labor organizing on campus, Swarthmore’s clean energy transition, and the areas in which our faculty members conduct research. Likely more impactful still will be Trump’s promises to eliminate or weaken many federal agencies, including the Department of Education; retaliate against dissent; incite mass deportations; crack down on organizing; continue to put pro-life, conservative judges on the bench; and eliminate or significantly weaken progressive policies like the Affordable Care Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, in addition to many more plans.
For the media to continue to serve its purpose, student journalism and free speech must be protected. Even without the added threat of Trump’s promise to retaliate against and handicap journalism, we have seen attacks on student press, such as papers being removed at Penn State under congressional censorship of universities. These attacks are likely to only increase under the incoming Trump administration. It ultimately is the responsibility of our college’s administration to protect The Phoenix and student speech in the face of increasing national threat. Unfortunately, the college has already embraced a more punitive and retaliatory stance against speech and expression this year as students face code of conduct charges for protest activity. We hope the administration will change course in protecting student voices, as we work to keep our community informed about how those in charge — both in the college and the government — are and are not working for them. And, we hope the administration has already and will continue to put the necessary work in to figure out what this incoming administration means for Swarthmore and its students, staff, and faculty, and how to counteract the threats Trump poses to values Swarthmore claims to hold. We, The Phoenix Editorial Board, recognize the importance of student journalism as we embark upon four years of uncertainty, and we look forward to providing the best possible coverage to the Swarthmore community.
I appreciate this piece, but would encourage us all to not be too insular. The tenor of it (and I admit I might be over-inferring from the wording here) suggests that our main focus should be inward – on effects at Swarthmore and the implications for things like campus organizing/activism/free speech/etc. Make no mistake: these are and will remain vital issues for us to engage with in the aftermath of this election. But it’s important that all of us (and outlets like The Phoenix) also confront the bigger implications for, and dynamics in, the world outside the Swarthmore Bubble. Despite the internal tensions at Swarthmore, we are a deeply uniform community politically – choosing not to turn our gaze outward, to the society we are a part of, risks us becoming completely out of touch with what is happening in America and around the world (which the decisive nature of this election outcome suggests we arguably already are, at least to some extent). In that sense, the quote below troubled me, as it implies that we don’t anticipate being able to make change where it arguably matters most – Washington DC. I think we can and should aspire to engage more with the wider world, and quickly!
“While we won’t necessarily be on Capitol Hill or in the White House briefing room anytime soon, we’ll be diligently investigating how the college and its neighboring communities — including the cities of Philadelphia and Chester — are impacted by Trump’s second term.”
If Trump won in part because of the alienation of the working class in the US, one thing Swarthmore could do locally is empower the workers at Swarthmore. An example of how to do that would be to open up seats on the Board of Managers to workers.
You don’t need to turn your gaze too far afield when the broader world’s inequities are replicated on campus. For instance, was this ever addressed? https://swarthmorephoenix.com/2023/04/13/an-open-letter-to-the-managers-of-swarthmore-college-from-a-group-of-dining-center-workers/
What has been happening to Dining Center workers at Swarthmore is an example of what is happening in America.
Obviously there are numerous reasons for Trump’s victory, but I believe the disenfranchisement of workers under a ruling class whose reach extends not just into both major parties, but also into campus administrations, faculty, alumni networks, and student bodies, both in terms of ideology and membership, is a factor. The GOP and Trump, of course, have no plans to fix this. But who does? A college whose workers have to write to the student newspaper to ask for better wages and working conditions? I’m skeptical.
It’s very much worth addressing these issues locally, right on campus, before heading off to Washington to influence policy. It matters just as much. And when one does not, it comes off as kind of hypocritical. Which I imagine does not go over well with large segments of the electorate.