The Kids Aren’t Alright with Trump

Mass hysteria has gripped college campuses nationwide following Donald Trump’s victory in the election.

An uninformed observer could easily mistake the dramatic scenes unfolding at America’s universities — ranging from walkouts to protests to candlelight vigils — for the aftermath of a major traumatic event.

Say what you want about the radical commie college kids of the 1960s, but at least they had some emotional stamina.

Safe spaces have been erected and counseling has been offered. But these students are reacting not to a national tragedy or emergency, but merely to the election of Donald Trump.

North Carolina State University is offering a number of “conversation spaces” with staff and counselors available for support. “While the election is over, many of us will continue to process it for the foreseeable future,” wrote Dr. Mike Mullen, vice-chancellor and dean of the university.

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“With that said, I’d like for all of you to know that we are committed to supporting our students, staff and faculty during this time.” In addition to the numerous counseling sessions, the university is holding several programs, including a lecture on the topic of “Why Donald Trump Won.”

The New School in New York City is also holding an event at which students can “process feelings in a community space.” The event is being held in the Baldwin Rivera Boggs Social Justice Hubb.

Another “community gathering” occurred at the New School’s Kerrey Hall dorm on Wednesday evening. It was “a space to process and reflect the election outcome,” according to an email from RA Victoria Tamez.

At Yale — yes, that Yale — an unidentified professor made a midterm exam optional lest his precious students suffer needless emotional and academic suffering.

“I am getting many heartfelt notes from students who are in shock over the election results … The ones I find most upsetting are those who fear, rightly or wrongly, for their own families,” he wrote.

Indeed, if this letter — and social media — are any indication, there are indeed a number of people who feel that Trump’s win means an impending apocalypse.

This may be why students at Cornell — another respectable Ivy League university — held a “cry-in” in response to Trump’s victory. Say what you want about the radical commie college kids of the 1960s, but at least they had some emotional stamina.

“I’m quite terrified, honestly,” one student who participated told the Cornell Daily Sun. “It’s saying that people are really given into fear-mongering.” Of course, the only people giving into fear-mongering are those who think Trump’s win heralds the destruction of society.

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At Columbia University, multiple midterms were reportedly rescheduled. “As of Wednesday night, at least a dozen midterm examinations had been rescheduled, with professors either preemptively sending emails to students notifying them that midterms would be postponed or agreeing to postpone exams following student requests and pressure from several student councils,” reported the university’s Columbia Daily Spectator. “Student councils and student petitions advocated class cancellations in addition to midterm extensions,” the paper also reported.

While all of this behavior is utterly disgraceful and entirely inappropriate for serious academic institutions, it should not be surprising. Indeed, what we are seeing can only be described as a sort of temporary psychosis, as Trump’s victory shattered the ideological illusions of America’s heavily indoctrinated and emotionally immature students.