The Election Issue
BU students, faculty react to presidential election results
BY JOSH ROSENTHAL Associate Campus Editor
AND LEIA GREEN Associate City Editor
On Wednesday morning, junior Kate Kehoe woke up to a text message confirming Donald Trump won the election.
“I felt this sinking pit in my stomach,” Kehoe said. “I was so optimistic, so hopeful that we’d finally see a woman in office. I thought she would do really great things for our country, but now I just feel so defeated and so tired after seeing it happen in 2016.”
Similarly, many Boston University students and faculty described their reactions to the Republican candidate beating Vice President Kamala Harris as “shocked” and “confused.”
Despite Harris winning Massachusetts with 60.9% of the vote, Trump won both the electoral college and the popular vote.
According to the New York Times, Trump won the election with 295 electoral college votes, beating Harris in all major battleground states.
“This is an unmitigated disaster for anyone who holds liberal or democratic norms dear to themselves,” said Erik Peinert, an assistant professor of political science. “It’s likewise likely to be an unmitigated disaster in terms of the United States’s position in the world.”
Before election night, Kehoe said she thought Harris’s path to becoming the first female president of the United States looked promising.
“I’m just so sad people would elect somebody like him over somebody that’s qualified,” Kehoe said. “Just because she
is a woman.”
Following the results, students across campus said they are fearful for the future.
“I’m definitely worried about LGBTQ rights and abortion rights,” said senior Sophia Gaunt.
“We saw what happens [when Trump’s] in charge, and it’s only gonna get worse.”
Junior Shayna Parikh said she knows many women who needed abortion procedures for health reasons. She said she worries with Trump as president, he could jeopardize access to such care.
“To think that we don’t have control over our bodies anymore, that stresses me out,” Parikh said.
Amanda Lohnes, president of BU College Republicans, said while she is pro-choice, Trump’s views on immigration and foreign policy — specifically regarding relations with Russia, Ukraine and China — solidified her vote for him.
“In another election I may have voted for Kamala because of the social issues and what she stands for,” Lohnes said. “But in this particular election, I think national security is the most important.”
Freshman Katherine Billian said she is “nervous” about the possible implementation of Project 2025, a conservative policy playbook, and its potential ramifications on the environment.
“I think [Trump’s] not going to try to reduce pollution and the effects of climate change as much as I want to,” Billian said.
Meanwhile, sophomore Austin Herrera said under a Trump administration, he is most concerned about the women in his family and his rights as a Black man.
Trump is the first convicted
felon to be elected president according to the New York Times. For Herrera, the presidential choice between a convicted felon and Harris was an “easy” one.
“I feel like Kamala fought really hard for the American people,” Herrera said. “So I’m just disappointed, confused, upset.”
This election also marks the first time a Republican presidential candidate won the popular vote since 2004, according to Axios. The decisiveness of Trump’s victory shocked members of the political science department.
“[There was] every indication that this was going to be a close election,” Peirnet said. “I think I probably would say I was surprised by the fact that it wasn’t particularly close and that Trump actually won the popular vote.”
David Hackett, a political science PhD student, said he was “saddened” by the result, but not as surprised as he was after the 2016 presidential election.
“I feel less shocked in terms of understanding Trump’s appeal and his platform,” Hackett said. “I feel like I understand him and his policies better, but I also feel
more fearful in terms of what policy changes will come down the turnpike with his election.”
With the long-term effects of this election on the larger BU community not yet seen, some students emphasized the importance of caring for oneself.
“Take the time to process and then try your best to be the change you wish to see in the world in any capacity that you can,” Hackett said. “No matter what identity you occupy and what you do, you can institute change in your own specific way no matter who you are.”
Students tune into election night watch parties around campus
BY KATHERINE WU DFP Writer
Writer
Boston University students attended on-campus watch parties at both Warren Towers and the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground on Tuesday as election results trickled in from across the nation.
The HTC watch party was a collaboration between Student Government, BU Votes,
BU College Democrats, the Community Service Center and the Dean of Students.
The Warren Towers watch party was hosted by Warren’s Faculty in Residences. They began at 7:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m., respectively, before major news networks began declaring results at 8 p.m.
At the HTC, StuGov President Akwasi Antwi thanked students for voting and showing up to support their civil obligations in his address. He also emphasized unity among students.
“No matter who you vote
for, who you’re here for, we’re supporting initiatives and issues that matter to us,” Antwi said during the event. “You can disagree with people, but at the end of the day, we’re united by the fact that we are all Terriers here.”
The party aimed to encourage common ground amidst election polarization, said Orpheo Speer, director of the Community Service Center. Speer said the HTC was an “ideal venue” for bringing people together.
“We have been thinking a lot about how divisive this
particular election can be, and thinking about [how] at the core of Howard Thurman values is finding ways that we can come together,” Speer said.
Speer said another goal was alleviating students’ election anxieties by creating a positive and fun environment amongst other people.
The event offered food, drinks, music and election bingo. Students could also fill out a post-election check-in form to be entered into a raffle that included Apple Airpods and TVs as prizes.
The Warren Towers watch party, held in the multipurpose room, is a tradition for the dorm, said Bryan Stone, a faculty-inresidence. He said he hopes the event helps educate students about U.S. politics.
“It’ll help them understand how the states work and how important the Electoral College is,” Stone said.
Tuesday’s watch party received one of the largest turnouts they’ve ever had, according to Stone.
Roy Grundmann, also a Warren Towers faculty-inresidence, said the event’s attendees were mostly students living in Warren, but the event attracts students from other dorms as well.
“It’s also great to see them experience community, not simply around entertainment and consumer culture, but politics,” Grundmann said. “Because politics matters, and a lot of young people don’t know that yet, and they have to
learn that.”
The event included free pizza and cardboard cutouts of both presidential candidates.
Freshman Zain Taheri said he was feeling a little nervous beforehand but felt better upon arriving at the HTC watch party.
“Since people are around me, and they’re all having fun, that makes me want to have fun as well,” Taheri said.
Amie Thomas, a graduate student, said that she was “on the edge of her seat” about the election, but seeing young voters at the watch parties was inspiring.
“I’m happy to see that young people are doing their jobs as citizens,” Thomas said.
“These are the things that we’re supposed to do in a democracy, so it’s really inspiring.”
Freshman Tanisha Krishnaraj, an international student, said that although she cannot vote, the watch party promotes political education.
“It feels important to at least be aware of the political process of the country that we live in,” Krishnaraj said.
Emily Ren, a freshman from New Jersey, said she felt a “sense of community and pride” at the watch party.
“I love sitting in this room and watching history go down in our nation,” Ren said. “The reaction from everyone is so fun, and the bonding experience that we have is amazing.”
The HTC and Warren Towers watch parties concluded at 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m., respectively — hours before the Associated Press called the race.
AVA RUBIN | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
A student looks at the election results at a watch party at Warren Towers on Tuesday. Many Boston University students and faculty expressed concern about the future of their civil and reproductive rights.
MEGAN KWAN | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER Boston University students watch the election at the Howard Thurman Center on Tuesday. BU Student Government, BU College Democrats and the Community Service Center hosted a watch party at HTC, while the Faculty in Residence hosted one at Warren Towers.
AND ISABELLE ZHANG Contributing
Trump’s win leaves Boston’s Harris voters ‘at a loss’
BY SAMANTHA GENZER City Co-Editor
AND LAUREN ALBANO City Co-Editor
Catherine Christianson could hardly sleep Tuesday night. In the middle of the night, the 31-year-old speech pathologist awoke and couldn’t help but check the updated electoral vote tracker.
“Trump was way ahead of Harris, so I was devastated even before the official announcement came out,” Christianson said. “Even when it did come out, I was just in a state of denial.”
The next morning, Christianson said the City of Boston was “very quiet” and “somber.”
Trump was declared the 47th president Wednesday morning, securing the victory over Vice President Kamala Harris by receiving 295 electoral votes to Harris’s 226, and winning the popular vote. Despite the outcome, Massachusetts remained primarily Democratic, with Harris winning the state’s vote by 61.3% as reported by the Associated Press.
Mike Alvarez, a 29 year old who works in wealth management, said Trump’s win reflects a desire for change from the middle class after years of Democratic leadership.
Alvarez said the country needs someone who can “get the economy back on track” and manage foreign affairs.
“You can say he’s crass and not great at answering questions directly, but he’s intimidating and strong,” Alvarez said. “That’s what you need when it comes to dealing with psychopathic dictators.”
Sheila Thorne, a 66-year-old retiree, said the election results highlight deeper societal issues within the country.
“I feel like this is who America really is,” Thorne said. “We’re in a country that serves more of a white, patriarchal society. That’s how it was founded and that’s how it has remained.”
Jack Winn, 86, said he is “at a loss” with the American people deciding not to take the “opportunity to put a woman in office … that’s so well qualified,” noting Harris’s experience as California’s Attorney General and a U.S. Senator.
“The world has been run since the Ice Age by one gender,” Winn said. “I started thinking about the gender issue and racist issue, and wonder how much that has to do with it.”
Thomas Carpenter, a 71-yearold retiree, said he thinks Trump’s popular vote win was influenced by “racism,” as he feels some voters, including Democrats, “could not come to terms with” having a woman of color as president.
“There’s a lot of undercarriage there that [Harris’s campaign] didn’t realize that’s in the American scheme of things,” Carpenter said. “It’s a terrible thing, but it is what it is, and [Democrats] need to look at that more.”
Additionally, some believe Trump gained the popular vote due to a more effective campaign strategy compared to Harris’s.
Carpenter said “the Democrats screwed up” by not giving Harris enough time to campaign effectively and they should have focused more on their policies.
“They thought the American population was through with
Trump, but he knew how to speak to people,” Carpenter said.
Many are expressing concerns with Trump taking office in January.
“Some of the stuff that they propose to do is very scary,” Carpenter said, referring to women’s rights and Trump’s plan to increase tariffs. “That’s going to really hurt America.”
Christianson said she can see the “Make America Great Again” movement “doubling down” on extremist policies surrounding reproductive and civil rights that resemble past laws that “we thought we were past.”
Carpenter said he is most concerned about Trump’s “dictatorship” leadership style.
Berk expressed feeling “sad and scared, especially for the environment,” with Trump taking office.
“He doesn’t believe in climate change,” Berk said. “He hates the Green New Deal. He hates everything that has to do with nature it seems.”
Suttree de Lorge, 22, a tutor, said he has concerns about Trump’s plans regarding social issues and foreign policy due to his character.
“It’s not good for American foreign policy to have someone like him at the presidency,” de Lorge said.
Rebekka Fryman, 33, an adult literacy tutor, said the future of the U.S. looks “scary” with Trump in office.
“There are a lot of support systems already in place that I think we just need to … bolster and really just take care of each other as best as we can, even if other people try to tell us not to,” Fryman said.
Winn said Trump could be “extremely dangerous” during his second term, especially because he now has “immunity from the Supreme Court” after the Court ruled in July that former presidents can never be prosecuted for actions relating to the core powers of their office in a 6-3 vote.
“I wouldn’t put anything past him,” Winn said. “I don’t think he’s playing with a full deck.”
Despite the outcome,
Christianson said she is an “eternal optimist” and believes Harris voters will stick around four years from now.
“Half the country didn’t vote for [Trump], and we’re still going to be here,” Christianson said. “We have to just keep moving forward …You can’t control other people, but you can control yourself.”
Brie Foster and Tavishi Chattopadhyay contributed reporting.
‘My vote kills her vote’: Bostonians polarized as they cast election ballots
BY LAUREN ALBANO City Co-Editor
AND MARTINA NACACH
COWAN ROS
DFP Writer
Alex Alaev entered the polling location at Cabot Elementary School in Newton Tuesday morning and said he did not even look at former president Donald Trump’s name when he cast his ballot for the Republican candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election.
Alaev, an IT consultant originally from Russia, said he knows “how scary [the] government could be.” He voted for Republican candidates for the last 27 years, which he said differed from his wife’s vote this year.
“She votes only for gender, so if she sees a woman, she would vote for a woman,” Alaev said. “It doesn’t matter what’s on the ballot. I’m voting for the party, so in our family, my vote kills her vote.”
This election is a close race, according to final projections published ahead of Election Day. Newsweek’s Nate Silver forecasted Vice President Kamala Harris has a 50% chance of winning the Electoral College compared to Trump’s 49.6%.
The percentage of Americans identifying as either strongly liberal or strongly conservative increased from 24% to 28% from the first to last quarter of 2023, according to the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy. This research projected the trend will continue into 2024, fueled by the election. Many voters expressed
frustration at the polls on Tuesday, saying the rise in political divide has impacted communities.
“You can’t talk to people,” said Jack Winn, 86, from Beacon Hill. “It’s never been like this.”
Mary Ellen Murphy, an 80-year-old retired nurse, said no political division had come between her own family, but she was “sure” it had occurred for others.
Catherine Christianson, 31, a speech-language pathologist
living in Beacon Hill, said she saw her own family “split down the middle” and blames social media for worsening the divide.
“It just feels like everyone’s getting completely different information,” Christianson said. “It’s just hard to tell what side people are on and what information they’re getting. It just feels completely segmented.”
Winn said the increase in polarization he has seen in this election cycle is “insane,” and
he has confronted people whose votes he finds hypocritical.
Jessica Mitten, a public defender from Boston, said she does not completely “believe” exit polls, because voters are afraid to be honest about their vote.
Almost a quarter of voters said they lied to their loved ones about the candidate they voted for, according to an Oct. 30 Axios Vibes survey.
“People are lying and pretending to be undecided, when
they’ve decided who they’re voting for,” Mitten said. “They just don’t want to say.”
Phillip Granberry, a social demographer for the City of Boston, also has been “tuning out the polls.”
“The polls don’t have enough data to make statistics,” Granberry said. “They’re meaningless, and the media should have quit reporting them.”
Charlie Johnson and Emilia Wisniewski contributed reporting.
KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
MEGAN KWAN |
Election
Center.
COMMUNITY
Mail-in ballot concerns influence BU students’ voting plans
BY ANNA ALBRECHT Associate Community Editor
Somewhere along the way, fiery dinner table debates became fires in ballot drop boxes. Lines of eager voters stretching around corners became the buzz of busy phone lines. The visuals of voting have changed in recent elections.
Set off by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the number of absentee or mail-in ballots in the last general election increased significantly compared to the past 12 years, leading to a decrease in the number of in-person voters.
In the 2020 election, 46% of voters cast absentee or mail-in ballots, according to Pew Research Center. This marked a turn in voting trends, which evolved into a topic of political contempt.
Mail-in voting initially served as an alternative for military personnel to cast their votes, and a loosening of application requirements did not come until 1978, starting in California.
But mail-in voting has been politicized far beyond its purpose.
Former President Donald Trump has criticized mail-in voting as a threat to election integrity. “We have to get rid of mail-in ballots because once you have mail-in ballots, you have crooked elections,” he said in January after the Iowa Caucus, reported CBS News.
However, Trump has recently switched his stance to back mail-in voting and urged his supporters to vote by any available means in order to “save America,” ABC reported in September.
For many college students across the country, the 2024 general election is the first election they are voting in. Because 72% of Boston University undergraduates do not live in Massachusetts, absentee ballots are a way of participating.
“I was really set on making sure I voted,” said Paige Albright, a BU sophomore from Iowa City, Iowa.
Albright, who voted by mail, said it was important that her vote was cast in her hometown as opposed to in Massachusetts, because of local issues impacting her friends and family there.
“We vote on our state supreme court justices, and abortion is a hot topic right now,” Albright said. “Even if my presidential vote didn’t have the impact that I wanted it to have, I knew 100% that me voting on the judges would have a direct result.”
Ava Benton, a BU freshman, said she felt drawn to vote by mail in her home state, Pennsylvania. As a swing state, Pennsylvania was a crucial stop on the campaign trail for both presidential candidates this year.
“I know every vote is important and has a significant
outcome on the election,” she said of Pennsylvania. “ I feel like my vote is finally worth something, like I’m finally doing my civic duty.”
While Albright and Benton both said they had little to no difficulty applying for and mailing in their ballot, their experience was not universal.
Across the country, from California to Texas, voters have expressed concern about their mail-in ballots never arriving.
For Giulianna Campo, a sophomore at Northeastern University, the mail-in voting process in Virginia was not as successful, which left her frustrated.
On Nov. 2, more than a week after she mailed her ballot, Campo said she received a call from a woman on behalf of Fairfax County reporting that her ballot was invalid and would not be counted.
“I think a lot of people can’t vote because the mail-in ballot makes it so hard,” she said. Campo said she might fly home for future elections as a result of her experience voting in this year’s election.
With many stories similar to Campo’s, the genesis of this controversy can be drawn to a central issue: election security.
“One of the things that makes election security a hard problem comes to the idea of ballot secrecy,” said Mayanak Varia, associate professor of computing and data science at BU. “But that’s
a hard problem to square with election transparency and with election integrity.”
The question over the insurance of mail-in ballots has led some students to vote in person.
“I’m feeling a lot more confident being able to just go to the voting location and put my vote in,” said Matthew Wuschke, a sophomore at BU from Dorchester.
Wuschke said he plans to take the train to join his family in walking together to the voting station, a family election tradition.
“The ballot box is the one place the government is building you a place where no one is allowed to look at you,” Varia said.
Mail-in voting hinders this element of secrecy.
Campo, in the wake of her struggle with this ballot cycle, argued for a simpler approach to mail-in ballots, in order to make the process more accessible.
“I feel like it would be good to make it a simpler process,” she said. “So everyone, no matter the education, no matter the person, no matter the race, no matter gender, they can fill it out and not have issues with it.”
Though Wuschke said he thinks voting in person “is the best way to go about” voting this election, he reaffirmed the importance of casting a vote despite potential setbacks.
“No matter where you are, no matter who you are, if you have the ability to vote, you should vote,” he said. “Your voice should be heard.”
Content creation and casting votes: Social media affects students’ political perspectives this election
BY SIENA GRIFFIN Managing Co-Editor
Donald Trump. Logan Paul. Kamala Harris is “Brat.” A “Saturday Night Live” vice presidential debate sketch. Swipe to read more. Retweet if you agree.
Being on social media during this election year could be a modern parody of “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
News clips, memes, footage of rallies and colorful infographics flooded social media in the months leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election on Nov. 5.
Now the “de facto method” for young people to access information, social media plays a large role in college students’ understanding of politics, said Denis Wu, a Boston University professor of communication specializing in the interplay of media and politics.
“Social media can be a pivotal way to persuade likely voters, especially younger voters, because younger audiences tend to rely more on social media,” Wu said.
When seeking political content on social media, most Americans consult X, followed by TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, according to Pew Research Center.
Many BU students use social media to spread awareness of the election and mobilize their peers to vote, said Hannah Wise, a senior majoring in public relations and political science. They often post information about voter registration and mail-in ballots, since 72% of BU students — many of whom are
voting in their first presidential election — are not from Massachusetts.
Rebecca Brautigam, a sophomore, said reading infographics on Instagram has helped her understand candidates’ stances on certain issues, and seeing strong opinions on Facebook has drawn her attention to partisan extremes.
“Social media also kind of provides more empathy, because you see what other people would be impacted by [your vote],” she said.
Michelle Amazeen, associate professor of mass communication at BU, said she has noticed how students consume news passively — they let news find them rather than seeking it out.
“They’re just incidentally consuming news when they’re on social media,” Amazeen said. “They feel that, if it’s important enough, they’ll see it.” Wu, who teaches courses
in media theory, said college students favor “entertainment and emotionally loaded content” over informational news, as well as visuals over text. This finding — a product of dwindling attention spans — explains the bite-sized news clips and aesthetically pleasing infographics that reign online.
As a result, both the Trump and Harris campaigns embraced social media and its trends. This summer, Kamala HQ capitalized on Charli XCX fans’ online sentiment that Harris embodies the pop star’s album, “Brat.” Additionally, Team Trump regularly posts video edits of his rallies or making fun of his opponents.
“The candidates are going where audience members are,” Amazeen said. “Increasingly, Gen Z is not going to The Washington Post or to The New York Times. They’re on social media.”
Sophomore Tommy Cole, vice president of outreach for BridgeBU, a student organization focused on overcoming political divides, said he’s noticed politicians on both sides enlist influencers in an attempt to relate to younger voters, specifically through longform, sit-down podcasts.
Harris was a guest on the Oct. 6 episode of BU alum Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy,” a sex and relationship podcast with predominantly female listenership. Trump has appeared on several podcasts this year, including Logan Paul’s “Impaulsive” on June 14 and more recently “The Joe Rogan Experience” on Oct. 25, both of which target male audiences.
“[Podcasts are] a very direct pipeline through social media to students in our generation to get them to vote,” Cole said. “I don’t know how much it sways someone’s opinion necessarily … but I do think it really raises awareness of the election itself.”
Amazeen noted the historical trend of candidates evading legacy media. She cited Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933-44 radio fireside chats and Donald Trump’s use of X, then Twitter, during the 2016 election.
Although Wise said she consumes a lot of news on social media, she based her vote on her own research.
“I was pretty firm on who I was voting for without social media, and I think if anything, seeing the clips on social media just reaffirmed my choice,” she said.
For senior Valeria Arango, who said she is “not very much
into the whole politics” scene, social media brings a mix of viewpoints.
“Most people that post also are much more on one side versus the other,” she added.
Because social media algorithms curate users’ feeds based on their demographics and interests, they can contribute to confirmation bias: the tendency to search for information that aligns with one’s existing beliefs. Wu said this creates echo chambers, which isolate “different perspectives or more complex situations” and worsen partisan extremes.
“The exclusive usage of social media for election-based information or decision making can be alarming [and] can be dangerous for democracy,” Wu said.
Still, Wu predicts social media will continue to influence voting habits in the long run. What remains uncertain is whether this influence will multiply as current Gen Zers’ social media use compounds as they get older.
“Four years from now, the 20-somethings will become 30-something and so on and so forth,” he said. “The impact could be gradually increasing as time goes on.”
However, Wise said social media provided her “an accessible platform to start learning about politics,” which in turn led her to study political science.
“Social media can be such a great tool for getting out political information,” she said. “But it’s also really important to take it with a grain of salt, do your own research and be mindful.”
MEGAN KWAN | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER A person watches a TikTok posted by KamalaHQ. Many college students obtain information about politics and the election through social media.
KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
A voter casts their ballot at a ballot drop box by Boston City Hall on Sunday. Many college students are voting via mail-in ballot because they do not attend school in the state they are registered to vote in.
Presidential election generates anxiety over aftermath
BY SARA CREATO Senior Writer
AND TRUMAN DICKERSON Associate Science Editor
For many Americans, presidential elections are immensely stress-inducing, but this year it’s gotten worse, according to a recent survey conducted by the American Psychological Association.
The 2024 election was framed by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign as a battle between democracy and facism. President-elect Donald Trump called Democrats “the enemy from within” and threatened retribution if reelected. Because of this, many Americans suffer from election anxiety
This election caused 69% of adults to feel significant stress, according to the survey. Additionally, 74% of adults feared there would be violence following the election and 56% said this election would be the end of democracy.
John Christianson, the chair of the department of psychology and neuroscience at Boston College said these high levels of anxiety could stem from a lack of control over the outcome of the election.
“The election is one of these paradoxes where you have some control, and the outcome
is that you get to go vote,” Christianson said. “But you don’t have a good connection between that action and what the actual outcome will be, and so that is a recipe for anxiety,.”
Christianson said that the uncertainty surrounding the election causes people to enter a “state of vigilance,” or a state of higher alertness that can cause people to be more easily startled and perceive their surroundings in a more threatening manner.
For Taylor Le, a junior in BU’s Metropolitan College, this election is the first time she’s voting, she said she’s felt nervous all week.
“It’s just the feeling of the unknown, the general feeling of the unknown and not knowing what’s, the trajectory of our country,” she said.
Conversely, the lack of control, along with heavy exposure to political messaging, can also cause disengagement from politics and desensitization in a phenomenon known as “habituation.”
“We get used to it, and we stop having that knee jerk reaction. We stop generating a stress response,” Christianson said. “It does seem like politicians, the media tend to deliver messages that are at the most extreme because…
BUSINESS SCIENCE
that’s what continues to get reactions.”
However, Christianson said it’s possible that many people’s political anxiety will be reduced after the election.
“Maybe on Wednesday morning, people wake up and go, ‘ah, it’s over,’” he said. “There’s a sense of relief that tends to be associated with the executive parts of the brain… and the systems that are helping maintain our arousal and vigilance get suppressed.”
Yet, due to the attempted insurrection on January 6, 2021, Christianson said some people won’t be able to relax until the next president is sworn in.
“It’s natural for somebody to be worried that that could happen again,” he said.
Neha Gondal, an associate professor of sociology at Boston University, said she anticipates friction in relationships between people with different political views.
“The 2016 Election did show us that relationships that were politically different were more likely to be dropped after the 2016 Election,” she said.
An example of these tensions was the many women who voted for Harris without telling their loved ones.
“One way in which women are managing this kind of
stress is by keeping [their Democratic vote] a secret, by not divulging to their husbands and other families and friends and church members,” she said.
In a recent Fox News broadcast, host Jesse Watters said that his wife voting for Harris “violates the sanctity of our marriage” and “that’s the same thing as having an affair.”
However, Gondal said she believes in the resiliency of most familial relationships.
“We put up with family in a
variety of different ways, and I think those guys will endure for the most part, despite this election,” she said.
Alexia Oliveira, a freshman at BU who isn’t old enough to vote, said she has been avoiding news coverage regarding the election to protect her “mental health”
“It’s hard to take [the election] seriously if the [running] politicians don’t even take it seriously. It’s all a big joke, but it applies to every single one of us,” she said.
To endorse or not to endorse: Boston journalists discuss their role in politics
BY RUBY VOGE
Associate Lifestyle Editor
During an election year, newspapers’ opinion pages endorse presidential candidates. Usually. However, during this election, more news organizations than ever are opting-out of an official endorsement.
In October, the Los Angeles Times announced it would not be endorsing a candidate during the 2024 Presidential Election. Less than two weeks later, The Washington Post followed suit.
Locally, the Boston Globe made the decision to endorse Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris. The first presidential endorsement the Globe made was Hubert Humphrey in 1968.
“Globe readers want to see [that] the news organization stands for something and stands for something that [is] really vitally important in this moment,” said Brian McGrory, chair of the journalism department at Boston University and former editor of the Boston Globe. “Many readers like to feel some sort of common cause with the news organization they’re reading… having the opinion pages reflect what they likely believe in is pretty important to them.”
Endorsing candidates has a longstanding history within the newspaper industry because it allowed wealthy owners to exercise political influence through the media, Dan Kennedy, a professor of journalism at Northeastern University, said.
Early American newspapers were generally directly affiliated
with a political party and the idea of an impartial news outlet is fairly new, according to Kennedy.
“Rich men, and they were almost always men, bought newspapers in large measures so that they could get involved in politics,” Kennedy said.
In the late 19th century, newspaper publishing moguls William Randolph Hearst, owner of the New York Journal, and Joseph Pulitzer, owner of the New York World, exercised control over their publications to create competition with the rival newspaper. Today, the Times is owned by billionaire businessman Patrick SoonShiong, and The Post is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The decision to endorse a candidate is made by a newspaper’s editorial board, not its newsroom staff, according to Aidan Ryan, a media reporter for the Globe.
The editorial board comprises a newspaper’s opinion and editorial writers. On the other hand, newsroom reporters are expected to remain impartial by not publicly expressing their political views.
According to Kennedy, The Post and the Times’ announcements to not endorse a candidate lacked credibility because of how close they were announced to Election Day.
Unlike The Post and the Times, the Minnesota Star Tribune, which is also owned by a billionaire, Glenn Taylor, announced it would not be endorsing a candidate in August Kennedy said the paper handled the decision in a way that was more thoughtful.
“People took them at their
word because it was several months before the election, and they clearly laid out what they were doing and why,” Kennedy said. “This just seemed like, ‘well, we’re going to kill endorsements of Harris because we’re afraid of [former president] Trump.’”
McGrory described Bezos’ decision as “anticipatory obedience” in a column he wrote for the Globe the day following The Post’s official announcement.
There has been a move toward non-traditional forms of voter engagement, such as Harris’ participation in popular podcasts like “Call Her Daddy” and Trump’s Youtube appearances with livestreamer Adin Ross, Ryan said. However, readers continue to turn to legacy media like the Globe because they represent “trusted brands.”
Bezos wrote an op-ed arguing that “presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election.”
Jim Dao, the editorial page editor of the Globe, said he disagrees with newspaper endorsements having “no impact.”
The Post has lost 250,000 subscribers since its initial announcement. The loss is proof of the continuing relevance of newspaper endorsements, Dao said.
Three members of the Times editorial board have also resigned following SoonShiong’s decision, according to the Associated Press.
“They just were completely disrespected and hung out to dry in public, and they decided to take a stand for their integrity,”
Kennedy said. “I think they deserve a lot of credit for doing that.”
Although Dao said he understands the arguments for moving away from endorsements, he does not believe a fear of angering readers is a valid reason for news outlets to stop endorsing presidential candidates.
“You can’t possibly please everybody all the time, but that’s journalism,” Dao said.
“What you hope for is that, on balance, you’re consistently good enough and accurate enough and fair enough that people will come back to you.”
In addition to endorsing Kamala Harris for president, the Globe also endorsed local candidates and Massachusetts ballot initiatives.
“There was a great deal of interest in the ballot questions this year, and again, that’s because they were substantive questions,” Dao said.
The five ballot initiatives
this year include authorizing the auditing of the state legislature, eliminating the MCAS standardized test graduation requirement, unionization for rideshare drivers, legalizing psychedelic substances and increasing the minimum wage for tipped workers.
“The rise of digital media in general, and social media in particular, has made the oldfashioned institution of an unsigned editorial written in the institutional voice, handed down in the voice of God… seem a bit silly in some ways,” Kennedy said.
In the end, McGrory said news organizations are providing readers with high-quality information so they can make informed decisions during an election that has high importance.
“The best way a news organization can serve its audience is by just providing the fullest, most interesting news report humanly possible,” McGrory said.
ILLUSTRATION BY LILA BALTAXE
GALLERY
Boston area participates in 2024 Presidential Election
Boston University students and Greater Boston area citizens prepare for and participate in election activities. BU held multiple wellness-based activities to help inform students about elections and encourage them to vote. University groups also hosted election watch parties and activities to de-stress post-election.
BU Votes members speak with students about voting in the 2024 Presidential Election at “Painting N’ Sipping,” an event held during Terrier Turnout Week, on Oct. 17. KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Students paint pumpkins at the “Democracy Pumpkin Carnival,” hosted by the Boston University Student Government and the Howard Thurman Center, on Oct. 18 to encourage students to learn about elections. SARAH CRUZ | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
A student paints a rock at a BU Student Wellbeing event, “Painting N’ Sipping” on Oct. 17, where students can learn about election resources. KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Ali Ruane, associate producer of the BUTV election special, “United We Vote,” prepares for a practice run of the special on Nov. 4. SIENA GLEASON | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
People vote in the 2024 Presidential Election at Precinct 1 in Brookline. KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
A voter looks at “I Voted” stickers, including Brookline’s custom “I Voted” stickers that feature a turkey, lining the side of an optical ballot scanner on Nov. 5. KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Executive producer Sophia Falbo and anchors Jezelle Anim-Addo and Eloise Lushina (left to right) talking in between takes of BUTV’s “United We Vote” election show on Nov. 4. SIENA GLEASON | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
A voter walks into the Precinct 1 polling station in Brookline, Massachusetts, on Tuesday.
KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
By Sarah Cruz, Rachel Feinstein, Siena Gleason, Kate Kotlyar and Ava Rubin
Fiona Holton wears beaded friendship bracelets that say “Harris-Walz” and a Kamala Harris t-shirt to an election watch party at Warren Towers on Nov. 5. AVA RUBIN | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Nadia Paneteski watches the election results on her laptop while attending an election watch party at Warren Towers on Nov. 5. AVA RUBIN | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Voters fill out their ballots on Nov. 5 at Precinct 1 in Brookline, Massachesetts.
KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
A student walks into the polling location at the Boston University Life Science and Engineering Building on Tuesday.
KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Xiaodan He colors in a large coloring sheet splayed out at a table in the George Sherman Union Link for Student Wellbeing’s decompression activity, “Pause from Politics: Connection and Coloring,” on Tuesday. KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Luke Scotchie, a member of the WTBU Radio election special, updates a list of called election races on a white board on Tuesday. SIENA GLEASON | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Students gather at the Howard Thurman Center for an election watch party on Tuesday night. MEGAN KWAN | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Students pet and play with Bean, the Boston University Police Department’s community resource dog, in the Dean’s Lounge during a BU Votes event that encourages students to relax after the election. KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Students lounge in inflatable hammocks in the Dean’s Lounge during the BU Votes event, “Election Pep Talks: Wellness Edition Day Two,” on Nov. 7. KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
On Oct. 15, members of BU Votes distributed pumpkin and apple pie slices to students who registered or were already registered to vote in the 2024 Presidential Election. RACHEL FEINSTEIN | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Editorial Board
CROSSWORD
Gracie Rohde
Illustration by Emma Clement
CITY
‘The Devil loves abortion’: Pro-life, -choice leaders in Boston stirred by reproductive rights after Trump’s victory
BY LAUREN ALBANO City Co-Editor
AND
HAZEL NYSTROM Contributing Writer
Reproductive rights were a pivotal issue in Tuesday’s presidential election, with Boston voters either celebrating or grappling with former President Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris emphasized a commitment to signing federal law codifying abortion nationwide in her campaign. Meanwhile, Trump advocated for leaving abortion policy to individual states, though early statements hinted at possible support for a nationwide ban.
The majority Trump-appointed Supreme Court returned the right to determine the legality of abortion to the states in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case, which overturned the nearly 50-year precedent set by the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade.
Myrna Maloney Flynn, president and CEO of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, said MCFL was “thrilled” upon hearing the election results from an abortion standpoint.
“A Harris administration would have continued the extreme stance on abortion that the Biden administration had pursued,” Flynn said.
In the two and a half years since Roe was overturned, Massachusetts has continued to legally protect abortion rights.
John Cervantes, a third-year at Northeastern University and chair of NU’s chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America, said abortion still remains a crucial issue for the historically blue state.
“Advocating for abortion is not just a Massachusetts thing,” Cervantes said. “It becomes a national question … because you know your rights don’t stop at a state’s border.”
A key issue
Trump’s win sparked strong emotions on both sides of the abortion debate, with reactions
felt across Boston college campuses and beyond.
Boston University senior Shana Weitzen is the co-president of BU Students for Reproductive Freedom, a Planned Parenthoodaffiliated “generation action” chapter.
SRF has been focusing on advocating to get mifepristone and misoprostol, medications used to terminate pregnancies, on BU’s campus through Student Health Services, Weitzen said. SHS currently offers pregnancy consultations to students, who can then be referred to outside clinics for additional care, such as contraception and abortion.
Weitzen said SHS should provide abortion medication directly to students to reduce “a lot of barriers.”
For Cervantes, the reproductive rights debate is indicative of a larger issue within the U.S.’s healthcare system, which he called a “sickness-care system” that “squeezes money out of people that are simply trying to live.”
YDSA advocates for better healthcare for women, as women’s rights are “fundamental” to the socialist movement, Cervantes said.
“There’s no worse commodification than simply using women for their reproductive abilities,” Cervantes said. “What so many of these reactionary forces want to do is to return women to a servile state.”
Cervantes said he hoped people would “choose the profreedom, pro-choice options” this election.
For pro-life organizations, the promises of Trump’s campaign provided hope for their causes.
Flynn said MCFL trusts Trump to “keep his word” on his promise not to enact a national abortion ban.
Flynn said MCFL respects “the will of the people” of Massachusetts to continue codifying abortion as a “federalist society.”
“Would we love to see every life protected under law? Absolutely,” Flynn said. “Yet, we recognize that this now is a state’s
rights issue, just as it should have been for the past five decades.”
Christian anti-abortion protesters Opposition to abortion is prevalent throughout Greater Boston, evident in protests outside the Planned Parenthood on Boston University’s campus, where demonstrators have been urging passersby to consider alternatives to abortion.
Sat beside a poster of the Virgin Mary, with prayer beads around his neck and a statue of Jesus’s crucifixion in his hand, one protester, who asked to be referred to as “Saint Pat,” said religion motivates him to spread his message.
Pat said he “would like Jesus to change the hearts of people.”
“The Devil loves abortion,” Pat said. “He loves abortion, child sacrifices.”
Students on abortion access
Given the prevalence of antiabortion rhetoric on campus, BU students expressed fears about the future of reproductive rights with Trump’s reelection.
“It’s terrifying to think that I have less rights than my mom
“How could it go any other way? Everyone we know is voting for her.”
did when she was my age,” said Freya Downey, a doctoral student at BU.
Downey said she fears further reproductive healthcare prosecution in her home state of Oklahoma and beyond.
“So much has already changed down there,” Downey said. “We have no idea what’s going to happen. That’s what’s so scary about it.”
Weitzen said Massachusetts has become a “safe haven” for abortion care, and students, especially from the Midwest or Southern states with more restrictions on reproductive care, were “very deliberate” in their college decisions.
“Talking with students, it’s something that has become more prevalent in where they choose to go to college,” she said.
Weitzen said bodily autonomy is important for students, because most would say they are “not in the position to care for a child right now.”
Looking forward Dana Alas, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement, wrote
in a statement that the City of Boston will “remain unwavering in its defense of reproductive freedoms,” despite the possibility that Trump’s win “could create a challenging landscape for reproductive rights nationally.”
“We anticipate potential federal restrictions and are prepared to advocate for local measures to counteract any threats, ensuring Boston remains a place where women’s health rights are protected and prioritized,” Alas wrote.
Flynn said educating Massachusetts citizens about MCFL’s cause will be central to its mission going forward. She said she fears misinformation will influence women’s decisions about whether to have an abortion.
Cervantes said granting women bodily autonomy is a “natural right” and, when granted, promotes equity in several facets of a society.
“Women make up half the labor force [and] half the population,” Cervantes said. “It only makes sense that they should have full access to their own body.”
“These things just don’t really affect me.”
Illustration by Lila Baltexe
HOLLY GUSTAVSEN | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
A sign outside of Planned Parenthood in Boston. Boston residents remain divided about abortion rights following the 2024 Presidential Election.
LIFESTYLE
Ask Abby (or Analise): Opposites attract, until they talk politics — do party lines matter in relationships?
BY ANALISE BRUNO Senior Columnist
Dear Abby: Election Day is coming up, and I’m kind of annoyed at my boyfriend. He’s voting against my political party. I told him that this makes me upset given some of the opposing candidate’s policies, but he won’t listen. I know I should probably agree to disagree, but that doesn’t sit right with me. Do you think we’ll ever be able to get past this?
What is it that they say you shouldn’t bring up at the dinner table? Money, religion and… politics. We wouldn’t want to get “too controversial,” now would we? But with election season right around the bend, it’s impossible not to bring voting up.
Most young adults encounter their first political disagreements with their parents or extended family. However, things can become dicey as we start to enter more serious relationships.
What do you do if the person you’re seeing reveals they are voting for the opposing candidate?
Everyone likes to champion the “agree to disagree” point and say we should not let politics impact our relationships. But the more I think about what’s on the line on Nov. 5, I can’t help but wonder: Is it wrong to avoid dating someone who is voting differently from you?
TikTok has been buzzing with slideshows featuring children sharing pictures of
themselves and their parents talking about “canceling out their vote” come election day. There is some humor to that because, as most of us know, there’s no changing our parents’ political decisions, much like how there’s no changing our relationship with them.
Given that you actually have a choice in your romantic partners, perhaps there is something to be said about cross-party dating.
Nature of relationship
I’m sure there are some couples that are perfectly successful and vote for different parties. However, what I am questioning is the nature of the relationship.
If you’re casually dating someone, then I don’t think voting will be much of a contentious topic. If you don’t really see a future together and are merely just enjoying one another’s companionship, you might let their party affiliation slide.
Subsequently, if you’re looking to enter a serious relationship, your political beliefs and affiliations may hold greater weight. Given the implications of some politicians’ beliefs and campaign objectives, a vote isn’t just some small quarry we can overlook.
When you cast your vote for a certain candidate, you’re echoing their beliefs and
values, which reflect back on you.
I’m not saying that disagreements can’t create a window of opportunity to learn something new from your partner. However, having deeply held political convictions might make decisions about family planning, raising children and other long-term commitments more difficult.
I also have to add that if you think who you vote for should have no effect on your romantic relationship or friendships, I would check your privilege. Try to step outside of your bubble to better understand how others will be impacted.
You can’t overlook values
I know a lot of people who like to use their parents as an example of a relationship that can make it to the altar despite differing political beliefs, but I honestly think the dating landscape has changed so much in the past decade to the point where this argument no longer stands.
Marriage is no longer a woman’s pinnacle achievement in our current society. That being said, there isn’t as much pressure to settle down quickly while you’re still young.
For some people, a little healthy disagreement is good. But let me be clear: mixing red and blue doesn’t always create a royal purple. Small
disagreements about policy is one thing, but possessing fundamentally different priorities and values is only a precursor for trouble in the future.
Part of being an adult is realizing that you have your beliefs and your partner has theirs, but many don’t consider the impact their vote has on other groups.
My point I guess what I’m really trying to say is that the political love gap is real. You could say it’s a modern-day Montague and Capulet situation with feuds between the red and blue parties.
Everyone loves to ramble about how things are too political these days, but I think there are some spaces where we should welcome being political — and that includes relationships.
In my eyes, political affiliations are more than just a paper ballot. Behind them are sets of morals and attitudes we hold. You don’t have to be like-minded in every topic in order to have a successful relationship, but there are some foundational beliefs that may be hard to overlook differences on.
In the long term, it is worth it to consider who your partner is voting for when involving yourself in a relationship.
REVIEW: ‘The Apprentice’ explores Trump’s origins, but Cohn steals the show
BY RACHEL BERNSTEIN Contributing Writer
“The Apprentice” isn’t the Donald Trump story you’re expecting. Rather than a behindthe-scenes look into Trump’s 15-season reality show of the same name, the film follows the story of how attorney Roy Cohn shaped Trump into the figure we know today.
Jeremy Strong, who plays Cohn, bluntly describes this as a Frankenstein story — Cohn, essentially creates Trump, played by Sebastian Stan. Cohn teaches Trump how to manipulate, act and talk in order to achieve his desires, only for Cohn to lose control of the monster he created.
Director Ali Abbasi’s film has a great first half, which allows Cohn’s morally complex character and entertaining dynamic with Trump to shine. But just when the film has you hooked, it stumbles by sidelining the real engine of the story, Cohn, too early into the second half.
Set in 1970s New York City, the story follows young Trump, who is desperate for power, relevance and respect until he meets Cohn — a ruthless fixer who takes Trump under his wing. As Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s righthand man in the 1950s, Cohn accused federal employees of communism and homosexuality while being a closeted gay man. Cohn’s reputation of being a lawyer against lawyers,
a Jewish antisemite and a homosexual homophobe creates a rich background for Strong’s performance and a character far more intriguing than Trump.
The film’s fundamental flaw is that Dr. Frankenstein’s story will always be more compelling than a story that tries to focus on his monster, which “The Apprentice” seems to forget in its second half.
The film opens with Richard Nixon’s infamous speech declaring himself “not a crook,” followed by a montage of 1970s New York City on the brink of collapse due to an abundance of crime and corruption. It depicts Trump as awkward, arrogant and power-hungry, yet passionate and charismatic. Trump convinces Cohn to represent his family in a racial discrimination lawsuit, and through bribery and manipulation, Cohn gets Trump acquitted.
Cohn sees himself in Trump and becomes his mentor. Cohn teaches him his three rules for success: one, attack, attack, attack. Two, deny everything. And three, always claim victory and never admit defeat.
Watching Trump enter Cohn’s dark world makes for a captivating story. Cohn is shown partying with Andy Warhol, Rupert Murdoch, Roger Stone and George Steinbrenner. Trump appears to be someone who genuinely cares for New York City. He decides real estate is both a way to save his city and enhance his own social status. He is seen
seducing Ivana Zelníčková, played by Maria Bakalova, who delivers a standout performance. Stan’s portrayal of Trump is nuanced, avoiding overly on-thenose impersonations.
Despite his denial of the fact, Cohn contracts AIDS. Meanwhile, Trump rapidly expands his real estate ventures, ignores Cohn’s advice and distances himself from his mentor as his own success grows. When Cohn loses his influence over Trump, he also loses screen time, and the story shifts its attention entirely to Trump’s rise.
Stripped of the tension between Trump and Cohn, Trump’s character loses steam and Cohn’s absence is palpable. Consequently, Trump’s character arc from the first half concludes with a surprisingly underdeveloped ending. Although the film alludes to Trump’s business failures, with him struggling to make payments as he expands his empire too fast, there should have been more emphasis on them throughout the film.
As Trump becomes more successful, he starts taking amphetamine pills, rapes his wife Ivana and undergoes surprisingly graphic liposuction and scalp reduction surgeries. This on-the-nose Frankenstein transformation is cleverly spliced together with Cohn’s funeral scene. The movie ends with Trump’s first meeting with the ghostwriter for his 1987
memoir in an anticlimactic, awkward and unfortunately dull final scene.
The true highlight of this movie is Sherman’s journalistic background, which brings a level of fact-checking to the script rarely seen in biopics today. Sherman started his career covering real estate for the New York Observer, where he often interviewed Trump. He later moved to New York Magazine to report on politics and eventually wrote the famous expose on FOX News president Roger Ailes. Researched moments — like Trump giving fake cufflinks to Cohn and a precise recreation of Cohn’s appearance on “60 Minutes,” where he denied having AIDS — set this movie apart in successfully incorporating the truth in a dramatized story.
“The Apprentice” succeeds
in vividly depicting New York City and accomplishes the challenging feat of evoking a hint of sympathy for Cohn. However, the movie loses its way by betting too heavily on Trump’s ability to carry the story alone.
Abbasi’s message is clear, though: Trump is Frankenstein’s monster, created by the United States’ power-hungry political and legal system, which allows those who become successful to use their power with little restriction. Those who support Trump will say “The Apprentice” is a harsh and inaccurate depiction, while those against Trump will say it is too sympathetic.
Released just weeks before the 2024 election, “The Apprentice” invites viewers to reflect on how the nation arrived at its current state.
ILLUSTRATION BY EMMA CLEMENT
COLUMNS A eulogy for the Republican Party | Con-Current Events
BY FRANK YANG Senior Columnist
“I have just committed the greatest stupidity of my life; I have allied myself with the greatest demagogue in world history.”
– Alfred Hugenberg, after helping Adolf Hitler become chancellor, 1933
Donald Trump will be our 47th President. If you’re celebrating, you’re despicable.
Celebration of Trump’s victory is a celebration for the deaths of pregnant women,the annihilation of war torn places like Ukraine and Gaza and the removal of legal Americans from our soil.
It’s a celebration of the collapse of American principles — fair courts, rule of law and democracy.
Sexual abusers get restraining orders. Felons can’t vote. Pedophiles can’t go near playgrounds. Impeached politicians are cast aside. Bankrupt business owners are described as failures. Committing treason sends you to prison.
But we knew that already. Americans already knew Trump’s political beliefs and the character he was. Over 70 million Americans knew it all when they cast a ballot for him, according to the Associated Press.
The party that once stood for law and order, for less taxes, for less government in our lives, I don’t recognize the Republican party from my textbooks. This
election has proved that party died, reborn to stand behind a criminal, raise costs and write legislation that restricts our freedoms.
That old Republican party had some valid points. This new party has none.
The punch line of this story? Naturally, it’s to ask what any of this may have to do with us.
Republicans will soon hold a majority in the House, Senate, Supreme Court and Presidential seat. Until 2026, Trump and his party can pass essentially any bill they want to, withthe Supreme Court able to uphold them.
In the Supreme Court, we can expect to see either two or three justices retire, allowing Trump to appoint new conservative justices for decades to come, seeing more decisions like Roe v. Wade and Chevron v. NRDC being overturned.
The policy that would be passed is the worst part of it all.
A national abortion ban is on the books, along with the destruction of government agencies like the Board of Education. Trump has promised unqualified people like former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the head of the Food and Drug Administration, Elon Musk to receive his own government agency and a former professional football player to be head of US missiles.
A blank check could be written to Netanyahu for him to bulldoze Gaza and the West Bank, and all aid could be stripped from Ukraine, letting
Russia reconquer the Eastern Bloc. At home, Trump’s lack of knowledge on what a tariff is will ruin consumers.
He’ll pardon himself of all his crimes, as he continues to espouse authoritarian rhetoric.
But who do we criticize? Trump voters or Republican elites?
Some of my fellow Americans actively want my minority friends out of the country, my girl friends dead, my queer friends converted, my education stunted. I used to hold Republican
voters to a higher standard, but evidently, I can’t anymore.
At the same time, the Republican party could’ve prevented this. The old Republican party would have.
But they’ve chosen to kill their former values, in favor of Trump.
Do we criticize people and groups like The New York Times for sanewashing Trump, or Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk for colluding with Trump in favor of their own profits?
Alas, this article is written as a eulogy.
EDITORIAL
Media polarization is a threat to democracy
Earlier in October, The Washington Post refused to endorse a candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election. The public was outraged that the paper, whose motto is “Democracy dies in darkness,” would not stand up for it in the wake of one of the most crucial elections.
Politically passionate readers may see the lack of endorsement as a betrayal to all The Post has done for journalistic integrity, but the underlying truth is that refusing to endorse a candidate protects that integrity — an integrity now threatened by the election of Donald Trump.
Recent elections have brought higher stakes for reproductive rights, education and the
LGBTQ+ community. Voters are not the only ones who have become so obviously divided — the media that serves them has polarized just as much.
According to Pew Research Center, 73% of Americans saw false headlines and inaccurate coverage regarding the 2024 election. Half the study’s participants said they couldn’t differentiate real and fake news. The study concluded Americans are more likely to trust information coming from their most frequently viewed news organizations. Since the stunning polarization of elections has taken hold, news outlets, specifically broadcast channels, market towards a certain
audience. It’s generally known that FOX News caters to right-leaning audiences, while CNN leans left. These stark boundaries can scare off undecided voters who may not believe partisan outlets are properly explaining all sides of the ballot.
The rise of “fake news” is nothing new — it’s been increasing since Trump’s first campaign in 2016. Repetition of the phrase has numbed and confused audiences to its meaning and caused Americans to distrust the media overall. Undecided voters no longer know what outlets to consult for complete, true information about candidates, and this uncertainty affects voter turnout.
News has become a spectacle rather than a source of reliable information. It is common to visit websites or switch on the television and see dramatic headlines paired with clips of pundits and their guests, arguing over politics, rather than having a civil discussion in order to understand each other’s conclusions. These fire-fueled debates further polarization and the notion that one’s opposing party is “intolerant.” Rather than bringing voters together to receive accurate information, the media is furthering party division and cultivating disrespectful discussions.
Since 2020, 54% of adults living in the United States say they get their news from social
media. This only furthers the news divide.
Social media algorithms are echo chambers that feed political partisanism by reinforcing a viewer’s beliefs as fact. Rarely do users interact with posts online that contradict their personal ideologies. Thus, your feed is usually only filled with information about your side of the ballot, and any news you receive about the other has been filtered by ideology.
In particular, X has become a hot spot for politics, according to Pew Research Center. Since Elon Musk bought the website in 2022, users’ feeds have been filled with far-right advertisements, pushed by Musk himself.
This election, social media distorted the nation’s sense of election progress. Supporters of either candidate voiced online their predictions for landslide victories. The echo-chamber media we are fed makes us forget people vote for the other side and cause misunderstanding as to how close the election truly seemed. Echo chambers also discourage open-mindedness and close off civil discussion between opposing viewpoints.
With this week’s win for President-elect Donald Trump, free and accurate information is at risk. At a rally in November, Trump said he hopes someone attempts to shoot at him because “somebody would have to shoot through the fake news” to hit him and referred
I once saw Republican voters as not much different than Democratic ones like me — just with a few different core values. Today, those core values are un-American and treasonous. They’re hateful and violent. I once saw the Republican party as a respectful one. Today, it’s not even a shadow of its old self.
I live in fear under the next administration. Because fascism and authoritarianism don’t need a coup. They just need to win an election.
to the members of the press seated in front of him as his protective “glass.” Trump’s plans for the press once he gets back to the Oval Office include jailing reporters and stripping major news networks of their broadcast licenses, which completely ignore the sanctity journalists receive in the First Amendment.
With free press at risk, it is crucial for media outlets to report without fear. A Seattle Times article pointed out many news outlets reported on Trump’s comments at rallies and branded his remarks as “Trump being Trump.” These remarks should not be taken lightly — especially now. They should be framed in their potential to lead to unjust and disturbing policies that jeopardize freedom of the press. The more the media reveals even the slightest bias, the more it threatens democracy. The wording of headlines, the tone used in interviews and even the structure of an article will affect a voter’s views, not only on the news outlet, but on the election as a whole. Journalism is one of the only careers protected by the Constitution. We must report like the fate of democracy is in our hands — because it is.
This Editorial was written by Opinion Co-Editor Hailey Pitcher.
ILLUSTRATION BY LILA BALTAXE
ILLUSTRATION BY EMMA CLEMENT
SPORTS
Boston University student-athletes push for civic action, look to unify, project voices post-election
BY CHLOE CRAMUTOLA Sports Editor
Two months before Tuesday’s presidential election, the Boston University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee offered voting resources with a focus on civic engagement.
“It’s a difficult position to be in when you are being the voice for all of athletics,” said SAAC Co-President and softball player Sydney Pecoraro. “But I think for this particular election, we’ve come at it in a way that we want everybody to be registered to vote and make the best decision for themselves.”
Comprised of BU studentathletes from other teams like soccer, tennis and field hockey, SAAC encourages players to support each other, engage in community service and use their voices to promote change.
On National Voter Registration Day, Sept. 17, SAAC set up tables at Case Athletics Center. The center serves as a major hub for athletes –– complete with a gymnasium, locker rooms and training rooms. SAAC also tabled from Oct. 8-11, offering easy access to voter information through scannable QR codes.
“Our main goal has definitely been just making sure that everybody has what they need to make an educated decision about who they’re voting for, and making sure they know what their state requires to get their absentee ballot in on time,” Pecoraro said.
Following the election, men’s
BY JASON ASVESTOPOULOS Senior Writer
AND TOBY MOSES Contributing Writer
Following a doubleheader against Northeastern University Monday night, the Boston University men’s and women’s basketball teams are not only looking to clinch a Patriot League championship win –– they aim to build off the success of their previous seasons.
While the men’s team started the season with a loss at home against Northeastern, the women’s team defeated the Huskies 60-48.
After a second-place finish in the Patriot League last year, the women head into the 2024-25 season with a revamped roster
soccer player Tyler Johnson looks to take his position further, especially as BU SAAC’s copresident and Patriot League SAAC chair.
“It’s really important to be more than an athlete,” Johnson said. “I think that’s something that BU struggles with a little bit, in the sense that you have the student identity, you have the athlete identity. There should be more cohesiveness between the two.”
Johnson said he would like to see BU Athletics hire an intern or gather a team to help promote athletes on social media.
“I just wish … student-athletes were marketed a bit better,” Johnson said. “I don’t know of any student-athletes at Boston University that are getting those type of opportunities, from an NIL space.”
At colleges like the University of Montana, however, studentathletes are being asked to use their public image to support politicians.
19-year-old sprinter Lily Meskers was offered a name, image and likeness deal by a group called Montana Together to support Sen. Jon Tester in his attempt at re-election, according to UM Athletic Director Kent Halsim.
While Meskers did not accept due to Tester’s stance on transgender athletes in sports, two other athletes accepted the NIL deal, which ranged from $400-$2,400, according to Sports Illustrated.
“College athletes are a
focused on building conference success.
The Terriers finished last season with a 20-12 season record and a 10-8 PL record.
Led by star senior forward Caitlin Weimar, the team fell to College of the Holy Cross in the Patriot League final for a second straight year.
With a roster predominantly consisting of underclassmen, the Terriers are a young team full of potential this coming season.
“We have probably the most depth we may have had since I’ve been here,” head coach Melissa Graves said.
With the absence of Weimar, who averaged 18.7 points and 10.6 rebounds last season, Graves looks to improve game
vulnerable population when it comes to talking about politics,” said Jeffrey Gerson, an associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. “It’s not really something that many of them feel confident to address, unless they’re part of a larger movement, a larger organization or have support from their coaches and teammates.”
While some college athletes –– and many pro athletes ––have spoken out as individuals, others have moved as an entire unit.
Voting 13-2 in favor of joining SEIU Local 560, the Dartmouth College men’s basketball team became the first college sports team to unionize in March. As of August, Dartmouth has refused to negotiate with the players on a collective bargaining agreement, however.
Another example of athlete unification is Morgan’s Message, a non-profit movement that aims to destigmatize mental health in the student-athlete community. SAAC has worked with Morgan’s Message, Student Athletes of Color and Athlete Ally to offer more opportunities for players to share thoughts with each other.
“Unless you’re actively doing it and you went through it, there’s certain things that you’re just not really going to understand if you weren’t an athlete,” Johnson said. “It’s a constant battle, it’s a mental battle, it’s a physical battle.”
SAAC has also given Johnson
by game this upcoming season.
Returning talent for the team includes senior guard Alex Giannaros, who was selected for the 2024-25 Preseason All-Patriot League Team in October and named a team captain for the second straight year.
“For me, my main job is bridging the gap for these new freshmen and showing them what college basketball is all about, because the pace is a lot different than high school,” Giannaros said.
For the men’s basketball team, the grind started during the summer, when the athletes stayed on a relatively empty campus as part of their offseason schedule.
“They put in a ton of time,” head coach Joe Jones said. “We had very clear meetings in terms of what we wanted them to improve on, and I saw our guys go out and really work on those things.”
After last season, the Terriers have unfinished business to attend to. Despite a heart-breaking loss to Lehigh University in the Patriot League Semifinals on March 10, in which the men led by 18 points at half, the team did not point fingers.
After all, this inexperienced squad heated up late in the season and secured the No. 2 seed.
“Games just get crazy, so you have to really be able to weather those storms as a unit,”
and other players the confidence to address issues within BU Athletics and at the college itself.
Pecoraro and Johnson said SAAC has been received well by the administration, but Johnson said he would like to see studentathletes become a united brand –– and for BU to push its athletes as a brand.
In a BU Athletics announcement on Sept. 17, BU partnered with Teamworks Influencer to launch the Scarlet & White Exchange to connect college athletes with businesses for NIL opportunities.
Few athletes have made offers available on their Exchange profiles. Many student-athletes, like Johnson, have not even heard of this resource.
On top of political endorsements, UM has
partnered with the Brandr Group to establish a group licensing agreement for the college’s athletes, covering all 15 varsity sports. The studentathletes will be able to profit from their NIL, co-branded with Montana’s official trademarks and logos.
At the end of the day, Johnson said, the University of Montana and Sen. Tester are acknowledging and marketing the platform that student-athletes should have.
“Regardless of who you support, the guy that won the election, the reason people identify with him, it’s because he is the brand himself,” Johnson said. “We don’t have that culture at all from BU Athletics, and that’s something that needs to change.”
graduate guard and captain Miles Brewster said. “We drifted apart that game, but with another year of experience for everybody, I think that’s something that we’ll be much more prepared for.”
Brewster will once again play an integral part in the Terriers’ success. He’s coming off a decorated 2023-24 season, concluding the PL in the top three in steals, assists, turnover ratio and 3-point percentage.
The captain also enters the 2024-25 campaign as part of the Preseason All-Patriot League Team, following second-team All-Conference, All-Defensive and Academic All-Conference first-team recognitions.
For men’s and women’s basketball, everything begins with leadership. This group of select players, like Giannaros and Brewster, lead by example and strengthen the character of the teams.
A clear strength for the women in recent years has been their ability to shoot the deep ball. Giannaros has shot the 3 at 44% for her college career and has been essential to the team’s success the past two seasons.
Helped by the attention that Weimar attracted from opposing defenses, the Terriers led the Patriot League in 3-point percentage last year. While 3-point shooting has been a strength each year under Graves, the team’s focus is getting the best shot available.
As for the men, looking at the team holistically, the reason for optimism lies in two factors: experience and individual improvement. This squad returns all but one player, Anthony Morales, while bolstering their talent by adding three newcomers: freshman duo Azmar Abdullah and Ben Defty, as well as sophomore forward Quinn Nielsen, a Citadel transfer.
The results of the Terriers’ offseason work promise significant progress. They will now see multiple ways to beat any team, without changing the identity the coaching staff has built.
“We really like our team,” Jones said. “We feel like guys have really improved. I would say that’s the thing that I’ve been most impressed with.”
This October, the women’s team was ranked No. 2 in the Patriot League preseason poll, behind Holy Cross and just ahead of Colgate University. The Terriers split the regular season series with Holy Cross last season, with each team winning their home game.
Graves said a focus for her team this season is to ensure success outside of the Patriot League and pick up tough nonconference wins.
“There’s an expectation with this program, and it’s grown to be that we want to compete for championships,” Graves said. “It’s not going to change based on who graduates.”
COURTESY OF EMILY HOWARD
Boston University’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee members at a watch party for a broadcast about the election and civic engagement. SAAC offered voting resources leading up to the election and hopes to provide more civic engagement opportunities for student-athletes in the future.
KATE KOTLYAR | DFP PHOTOGRAPHER
Then-sophomore guard Ben Roy (30) runs toward the basket in a game against Lehigh University on Feb. 4. The BU men’s and women’s basketball teams both played their first games of the season on Nov. 4.