On Election Day, students made passionate pleas to their peers and family and posted infographics on social media urging people to go out and vote. But by the next morning, the presidential election was called and former President Donald Trump was declared the winner — making all past efforts of civic action, for some, feel in vain.
Whether you celebrated the outcome, cried with disappointment or were completely apathetic, the results of the election brought a tidal wave of emotions to a city that voted overwhelmingly blue and to a school with a majority–liberal student body. Students have every right to feel disheartened by the Democratic Party’s failure, energized by the Republican Party’s victory or curious about the uncertain future of many of the causes they voted for. But, like GW always reminds students, you are in a politically engaged school in the nation’s capital where you have a prominent ability to get out there and understand the issues you care about. Whatever you believe in can be pursued and fought for here.
As more days pass since Trump’s victory, it’s clear that support for the former president has increased in more than 2,000 counties, with only 240 counties reporting an eroded favorability for the Republican nominee. That means the Democratic Party’s message and issues need to be reshaped, and for Republican students, there’s rarely been a more decisive modern embrace of one party than we just saw. If there were a time to be active in both parties, it’s now, and GW students are ideally positioned to do so. Our University sells us again and again the idea of living in D.C., the heart of politics and policymaking, and though it can be a tiresome message to hear, it’s not wrong.
Since the wee hours of Wednesday morning, we’ve all seen Instagram graphic after Instagram graphic from students despairing over the election’s outcome. We don’t doubt that all these students are genuinely upset and have a real sense of confusion and anger at the election’s results. But strongly worded statements about the state of the nation broadcasted to a couple hundred Instagram followers aren’t going to push the envelope on issues one cares about.
Most of us probably grew up watching acts of activism outside of the White House, Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court through our TV screen. And at some point, many of us thought, “I wish I could do that.” It’s crucial to remember that these places are a few blocks or a short Metro ride away. Being a student at GW means that if you feel strongly about a cause, you have opportunities to affect change on that issue beyond social media activism — using reproductive rights as an example, students at no other school in the country had an easier time traveling to protests outside the Supreme Court after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling. Change doesn’t come from a Canva graphic or an artfully worded paragraph on your Instagram story. As student movements throughout history have shown, change comes from on-the-ground advocacy.
Yes, Congress and the president make decisions about the country. But it’s people who make changes, too. GW students need to be those people by advocating for what they believe in. Just because the election may not have turned out in some people’s favor, doesn’t mean the issues that many people felt so passionately about no longer matter or need to be advocated for.
Fighting for such issues and embracing or reforming your political party must go beyond GW and the District, though. True, a student from Massachusetts calling a working-class Pennsylvanian the day of the election to urge the voter to vote a certain way is a form of political involvement. But it’s out-of-touch political engagement rooted from a place of privilege.
GW is one of the most expensive schools in the country, and most students living on campus are required to have housing and a meal plan — privileges that many others don’t have. Not everyone is in a position to care about broader issues beyond themselves. That’s a broader problem with American systems, but it doesn’t change the fact of the current situation: Most people in this country think a lot more about putting food on the table than they do how our current political climate connects to Hannah Arendt’s “The Origins of Totalitarianism.”
We implore students who care deeply about the results of Tuesday’s election to go out into the world to get a better grasp of the issues they fight for, just as we hope less politically motivated students join the fray. If the rationale behind the majority of Americans’ ballot selections feels incomprehensible to you, it should be a sign to spend more time talking to people with whom you disagree — which we would argue is the only way to really understand their views. And, in turn, organizing in person on behalf of issues you care about is the only way to conversely make those voters understand your perspective.
For many of us, it’s going to be a long four years. But all the negativity you may have right now is going to last far beyond that period unless you act.
The editorial board consists of Hatchet staff members and operates separately from the newsroom. This week’s staff editorial was written by Culture Editor Nick Perkins and Opinions Editor Andrea Mendoza-Melchor, based on discussions with Contributing Social Media Director Anaya Bhatt and Research Assistant Carly Cavanaugh.
