Since Donald Trump was announced the 45th president of the United States, professors from all departments — many of whom have no political science expertise — have likely stood in front of students, lesson plan in hand, and considered the question, “Do I address the red elephant in the room?”
We think yes, absolutely. It doesn’t matter if you’re teaching statistics or principles of art. Glazing over a result that has polarized the nation, caused a spike in hate crimes and that has and will continue to create policies that directly put many marginalized communities at risk is doing a disservice to an academic, liberal arts environment that fosters open dialogue.
But when initiating these conversations, it’s important for professors to avoid setting the tone. For open dialogue in classrooms related to the Trump presidency — to truly be productive — professors must focus on facilitating and not on interjecting their partisan views.
As voices of authority in the classroom, setting the stage for a conversation by condemning a certain opinion can be detrimental to encouraging students to openly share their views and, therefore, think critically about the reasons why they voted for one candidate over the other.
This is not to say that professors can’t signal to minority students that they are safe and loved in their classrooms or can’t acknowledge that Trump’s campaign negates many values that are central to Elon University’s academic environment, including evidence-based reasoning, inclusion, religious tolerance and gender equity.
This is not to say professors can’t express these views at events such as “A Gathering for Action,” on Wednesday, Nov. 16 or reach out individually to students who seem distressed.
But it’s important for professors to distinguish between spaces where students have gathered with a certain partisan perspective and spaces where all perspectives should be recognized. It is not the job of instructors to stand in front of classrooms and start these important conversations in a way that might limit opportunities for critical reflection and dialogue. It’s important for members of the “silent majority” to speak so that dialogue can actually happen across partisan lines.
Being able to react to this divisive election on a college campus means we have the unique opportunity to engage with various perspectives in a way that can foster productive, critical dialogue inside and outside the classroom.
But this can only happen in the classroom if student voices lead.