Higher education issues in spotlight for students after Trump elected
The 2016 Presidential election has come and gone, and Donald Trump will be sitting in the Oval Office for the next four years, at least.
Trump’s platform has become well-known during the election, but now, college students are focused on how the election may affect them. According to Dr. Larry Stratton, a lot of students have seen the impact this election could have, and Waynesburg University has been more politically engaged because of it.
“I think it’s more than four years ago, just looking at the level of consciousness about the election here at Waynesburg,” said Stratton. “Nationally, the strong support for Bernie Sanders was largely driven from college students.”
When it comes to how the new president will impact the lives of college-aged students before, during and after their collegiate experiences, there are many unknowns, according to Stratton.
“Trump is a wildcard,” he said.
USA Today College echoes Stratton’s statements by noting the relatively small amount of policy pertaining to this topic, but it notes that Sam Clovis, a Trump advisor, did make a statement regarding Trump’s stance on student loans in a discussion with Inside Higher Ed.
Clovis said that Trump wants private banks to be responsible for handing out student loans as opposed to the government, and there is a video of Trump summarizing these thoughts on his official Twitter account.
Also, Trump discussed his college loans view in his book, “Crippled America,” which was published in 2015.
In this brief mention of his book, Trump said that the government should not be making money off student debt.
The election could change the shape of diversity on college campuses. The United States may see a decrease in the international student population due to Trump’s election. According to Good Call, a massive poll that received just shy of 40,500 responses of the 1.2 million international students who were surveyed, 60 percent said they were “less inclined” to come to the United States if Trump became President as opposed to Clinton.
As for issues Trump and his campaign have more concretely touched on, Stratton believes the greatest impact of all will be seen in the judicial branch of the government. With all branches of government expected to be controlled by conservative representatives, Stratton believes that citizens need to trust the system in leveling out the balance of power.
“We don’t know what the final shakeout is in both chambers of Congress and the judiciary is still an avenue for discussion,” said Stratton. “In a democratic society, it really is public persuasion and debate that separates things from the actual political structures.”
There are plenty of social issues that could come before the court that Trump and Clinton went toe-to-toe on. One of them is a divisive topic in American culture: abortion.
During a debate in October 2016, Trump said that he would place judges on the Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade, and he would look into defunding Planned Parenthood.
As for other campaign issues beyond collegiate concerns, immigration and race relations are in the spotlight. Trump was sued in the 1970’s for a racist rental policy, according to On the Issues, which is a non-partisan, non-profit entity. In June of 2016, he said he would “respectfully” check Mosques and that intelligence and law enforcement agencies would have to look into profiling.
As for crime, Trump said that he supports the stop-and-frisk method because it worked well in New York City, and he believes a greater emphasis should be placed on law and order. He also mentioned in February of 2016 that the nation needs to focus on weeding out bad cops.