Baala Shakya, Contributing Photographer

Yale community members shared mixed reactions to Donald Trump’s reelection to the White House as they gathered for discussions, rallies and other post-election events on Wednesday. 

Trump became president-elect after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris with a count of 295 electoral votes as of Wednesday night. The victory comes in stark contrast to the 82 percent of Yale students who indicated that they would vote for Harris in a recent survey conducted by the News. Various student organizations and cultural centers will continue to host events and spaces for students to process election results throughout the week.

AJ Tapia-Wylie ’26 echoed sentiments of somber acceptance of the election.

“​​I don’t think I was surprised by last night’s outcome,” Tapia-Wylie said. “I got the general sense that a lot of people didn’t necessarily feel outraged like they did in 2016, but it was more of a quiet acceptance and a quiet grief around the election.”

Students express tension, satisfaction and resignation

On Wednesday evening, the Yale College Democrats hosted a watch party of Harris’ concession speech in the Branford College Trumbull room. 

Harris’ loss was felt especially deeply by the Yale Dems after members spent months canvassing and phone banking for her campaign, according to Dems deputy board member Jack Dozier ’27. 

“I had some really honest, deep and raw conversations throughout the day with friends back home, friends from organizing across my home state of Virginia, as well as with friends from here at Yale,” Dozier said. “Last night did not go as we had anticipated. It was a year of work or more for many campaigns that we cared so deeply about that did come to this unfortunate close, but I’ll sleep well at night knowing that we put in our all for all of these campaigns.”

The Alexander Hamilton Society hosted a conversation in the Slifka Center library with Alex Lederman ’20, a senior policy fellow at the Israeli Policy Forum, on how Trump’s reelection could impact U.S. foreign policy surrounding the Israel-Hamas war. 

Aiden Hall ’27, who was motivated to attend the event by his Israeli suitemate, described himself as in “tatters” following the result of the election, adding that the campus environment is currently “tense.” 

“Trump represents a type of diplomacy that’s a little wild, a little out there,” Hall told the News. “It’s not as structured as the typical liberal, and I think that that’s dangerous for Palestinians and for Israelis.” 

At the Sumud Coalition’s rally to announce a petition for a divestment referendum, various organizers and attendees referenced the election results as a reason to remain motivated in their pro-Palestine advocacy.

“For anyone feeling scared about the results of last night’s election, what it means for Gaza, what it means for a right to protest, what it means for our democracy, what it means for each and every one of us, we urge you to invest in democracy and dissent here on campus,” an organizer said in a speech. “We will not go down without a fight. Democracy isn’t just on the ballot every four years, it’s what we practice here every single day.”

Another speaker at the rally expressed that it is “exhausting to see our humanity on the ballot every single election cycle.” 

Cultural centers hold spaces for student reflection

Administrators and staffers in Yale’s cultural centers emphasized their open hours, hosted reflection spaces and organized events for students to discuss election results throughout Wednesday.

The Afro-American Cultural Center did not schedule any formal programming or accept room reservation requests for Wednesday so that “the entire House would be available for reflection and community building, regardless of the results of the election,” Af-Am House Director Timeica Bethel wrote to the News. The House’s YC3 Liaison and a University chaplain were also available as resources for students, according to Bethel.

However, the House does plan to host an election reflection event on Friday with Mike Jones ’11, who worked on the Harris-Walz campaign and formerly served as Ward 1 New Haven Alder. 

Lena Ginawi, Assistant Director of the Middle Eastern and North African cultural suite, referenced the “complex emotions” of the MENA community during election season. 

“Many of our students have felt and continue to feel personally impacted by the discourse on issues related to their home countries,” Ginawi wrote. “We want to support students in navigating the emotional weight of these discourses by offering space for them to discuss and reflect on these issues as well as the opportunity to build coalition.”

On Tuesday, the MENACC suite hosted a study break and election watch party. The suite will also host a tile-painting event on Thursday, which Ginawi described as “an opportunity for folks to decompress and be in community.”

Yale’s LGBTQ Center hosted a gathering on Wednesday to “open up the space to support students, if people felt very anxious,” according to Chandler Dalton SOM ’25, a graduate student liaison and non-partisan organizer for the center. Dalton also described the event’s atmosphere as “uniformly solemn, frustrated and confused.” 

The LGBTQ Center’s “focus today and going forward, will be to continue supporting [students] and working to create a better tomorrow for future generations of LGBTQ people,” per an Instagram post advertising the event.

On Oct. 12, the Asian American Cultural Center held an event titled “Navigating our Emotions During Election Season.” At the event, conversations focused on student emotions, in contrast with the “intellectual approach” other campus spaces tend to approach the elections with, AACC Director Joliana Yee wrote.

Yee explained that while the cultural centers do not plan to issue an official message addressing the election, the center will continue to host events centered on the elections and civic engagement. Next week, the AACC will host an event featuring a panel of alumni serving as local elected officials, who will discuss the importance of grassroots activism and Asian American representation at all levels of politics.

Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 20, 2025.

Josie Reich contributed reporting.