Americans all over the country have locked horns in mixed and divisive debate following the announcement of Donald Trump’s election, and Dickinson College’s campus appears to be no exception.

The campus held a watch party the night of the election, the mood of which Leda Fisher ’19 described as “really grim.”

“People were so excited in the first hours, cheering and booing when states were called, studying, drawing. And then by like 11:45 everyone was scared and nervous and sad,” she stated.  “By 2 when I left, people were tired and crying, and trying to prepare themselves for Wednesday.”

Morgan Bates ’18 was also deeply affected by the results.

“What concerns me most is that this win vindicates the hateful rhetoric against minorities and women used by Donald Trump, Mike Pence and a number of his supporters throughout this campaign,” she says. “The president and vice president serve as examples for the American people. Their words about women and minorities inspire intolerant individuals to do the exact same thing.”

“I’m an openly gay woman,” Bates continues. “These things…they affect me directly. And this is just some of the stuff that affects me, not to mention the laundry list of other statements and platforms that seriously affect my Muslim friends, my transgender friends, my Hispanic friends, my black friends…. So yeah, I’m scared for me and I’m scared for my peers. And I have a right to be scared.”

Other students were less than impressed with how their fellow Dickinsonians were treating each other.

Ellen Hietsch ’17 maintained, “It disappoints me to see certain republicans on campus laughing at people’s legitimate fears.”

Bigotry, hate, racism, and sexism were not the only issues concerning Dickinson students.  Ian Barry ’20 was cheering for Hillary because “when [Trump is] talking about the environment, I think he’s going to destroy it, frankly, so I was voting for Hillary there.”  Barry was “upset that Trump was [elected]” but he believes that “you have to deal with it, you have to accept the results.”

Some have decided to neither oppose nor accept the results.  Tatiana Williams ’20 said that she is “still acting like it didn’t happen.”

On the other end of the political spectrum, the results of Nov. 8 were cause for celebration.

Trystin Golowski ’20 watched the election “with a few other guys in [my] room, hiding from the Democrats.  We were in our room with all of our Trump gear, and we were really excited watching it.”  He said that he was “surprised but very happy.  I knew Florida was going to be close and Pennsylvania, I didn’t think Trump was going to get it, but I’m happy he did. I was surprised by how much he won, actually.”  Golowski also said he was disappointed in how the Democrats and Clinton supporters have been reacting to their nominee’s defeat.  He said, “If you still hate [Trump] after one year, that’s one thing, but that fact that riots are going on is very childish.  It’s the way our government is set up.  When someone wins, you have to respect that and work with him.”  He thinks that “everyone should give the guy [Trump] a chance.  Give him a chance and see what he does.”

It wasn’t only Hillary supporters who were disheartened by Trump’s victory.  Scott Elder ’20 identified himself as “[a Hillary supporter] more than a Trump.  I just did not want Trump.  I voted for Gary Johnson.”  Elder’s hopes for the election results were two-fold. He wanted “Hillary [to win] and hoping that Gary would get the 5%.”  He mentioned that “If [the Libertarian party] get[s] to 5%, then they get federal funds for the House and Senate campaigns as well as the president.  [Johnson] didn’t have a chance but there was a hope he would win New Mexico in polls, but then that faded towards the end of the election, so I was hoping he would get 5% from a combination of Utah, New Mexico, and some of the smaller states [in population and electoral votes] like Montana and the Dakotas.  He got an increase from the 2012 election but it wasn’t substantial enough to get to the 5%.”

Although the majority of Dickinson students are conflicted over Trump’s win, James Lotz ’20 has a more positive outlook.  He said that he “wasn’t a huge fan of either candidate, but I know a lot of people are worried about the outcome, but I know if people look out for each other and we stick together as a nation, everything’s going to be okay.  One man isn’t going to stop what years of progress and hundred upon thousands of people have put their lives towards to help people, and like I said before, as long as we all stick together, I think everything’s going to be okay.”

Jillian Clark ’19, staff writer, contributed to the reporting of this article.