Profs cancel classes to 'cope' with 'anxiety and terror' of Trump win
Professors across the nation are cancelling classes Wednesday to help students deal with their emotional distress as they come to grips with the "shocking" election of Donald Trump.
At the University of Connecticut, for example, one professor emailed her students to inform them that since “the election process has been particularly trying for so many people,” she would not be “taking roll in class tomorrow.”
“Because I know this process has been difficult for many of you (emotionally and mentally), I wanted to let you know that I’m not taking roll in class tomorrow,” English professor Breann Leake states in the email, noting that “there are a lot of very real, very serious issues at stake.”
“Depending on how attendance works out, we may adjust the schedule and use Wednesday’s class as a review day,” the message adds. “However, if you feel like you need to take a personal day, I absolutely understand that as well.”
Another professor at the University of Rochester, Karl Mohn, cancelled all of his meetings with students after election day because he couldn’t bear to discuss the outcome of the vote with students.
“To be perfectly honest, I have a hard time justifying today sitting face-to-face with you and saying with a straight face: ‘Yes, some of our lives and livelihoods are literally in more danger today than they were yesterday, but hey-let’s talk about your thesis statement,’” Mohn wrote in his email, though he did not respond to inquiries from Campus Reform.
One student at Iowa State University, Lindsey Beck, posted a copy of an email she received from a professor who had cancelled class due to Trump’s victory, noting “this is only one of two” of her classes that were cancelled.
“Due to the emotional response by a large number [of] students as a result of last night’s election I have decided to cancel class and to postpone the quiz until Friday,” her professor wrote, noting that “this was a life-changing event” and perhaps “one of the most shocking events in our history.”
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“I think many of you will need some time to cope due to the polarizing nature of the campaign,” he continues. “Please be safe and show compassion to your peers.”
Dozens of other students throughout the country took to social media to explain that their professors had cancelled class out of concern that students are “emotionally and mentally unable to be there.”
“When your professor cancelled class today cuz he’s pissed Donald Trump won,” one student posted to Facebook, while another recounted that his “teachers have cancelled class today...since there’s a protest” on campus.
“It looks like I’m taking this day to complete my final essay for Women and Gender Studies and to try to cope with a nation ruled by Trump,” he added.
“My professor just cancelled class because of the results of the election after we all showed up for class,” another post explained, while a student from San Francisco noted that one of her journalism professors had cancelled class because “he’s for Hillary Clinton,” adding that she now sees “the anxiety and terror that may arise from the outcome of this election.”
Campus Reform reached out to professors Leake and Mohn for comment, but neither had responded by press time.
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