In a victory that defied predictions, Donald Trump was elected as the next president of the United States on Nov. 8.

Following the election, students have organized to write letters to electoral college voters, demonstrated in anti-Trump protests in the area and come together in groups on campus to discuss their reactions to the event. Students reported that some of their professors also cancelled their classes on Nov. 9.

In the days after the election, we sought out a diverse mix of perspectives on these recent political developments from members of the Fordham community. Here are some of the responses we received:

MARTIN NUNEZ-BONILLA, FCLC ’18

“I’m Latino so it’s just very scary to hear someone with Trump’s rhetoric win, because he did talk a lot about just basically marginalized populations in general, and not in a very positive way. He talked about us in a way that was very antagonistic and it seemed like he was blaming us for a lot of the things that are happening in the United States right now and in a bad way. And that’s scary. It’s scary to think that there’s a lot of people that listen and subscribe to these theories.”

DORIAN CUPERO, FCLC ’17

“It just felt like a slap in the face, a punch in the stomach. Like everything that I’ve cared about for so long, I’ve supported her since 2008, and everything that I’ve cared about for so long was just like, just thrown away. And a lot of it in many ways felt like the epitomization of being a woman, just because we put forward the most qualified candidate we had, the best candidate we had, and in the end, a man who was louder won.”

LINDA INFANTINO, GSBLC’19

“I had a couple friends over and we had a little viewer party. And it started out pretty calm, but as more and more states started coming in, everyone got really anxious. And it was very odd because I was the only Republican in that particular room. So they kept freaking out and freaking out and freaking out and I was just like ‘oh god, why am I a Republican right now?’”

“Don’t hate on someone who voted third party. There’s no guarantee that that person will vote the way you wanted them to vote. The third party voters voted for the people they thought were best and that’s their decision. Don’t blame them because your candidate won or because your candidate lost. There’s no guarantee.”

CHARBEL ABI-HASSOUN, FCLC ’17

“New York City is definitely stunned, to say the least. I think a lot of people are in disbelief, whether that’s positive or negative. I think regardless of the outcome, right now we should just focus on the more important things that lie ahead. We need to focus more on like, wage equality for women, we need to get better treatment for our veterans, and I think those are the really important things to focus on, rather than being happy or sad on who won. I think there are more important things for us ahead as a country.”

DEMETRIOS STRATIS,    FCLC ’19

“There have been hate crimes in my neighborhood, Queens, one of the most diverse places in the world. There’s been stories of kids on buses screaming ‘Go to the back of the bus. Trump is elected.’ Now, I don’t think every single Trump supporter is a racist xenophobe. I really steer clear of that. I believe that many of them were citizens who had their own reasons for voting for him and that we have to have conversations with them, because there’s an echo chamber in this country that many of us never bother to pierce.”

KELLY MARTIN, FCLC ’19

“I feel like it still hasn’t hit me that he’s president-elect. But also, I feel like I had more of a reaction to the protesting, because a lot of people were scared of all of the social repercussions of having Trump as president. And I was like we need to somehow get together and be peaceful and work through this, and I feel like maybe I’m too optimistic, but I think that already, Donald Trump…he’s changed the vibe that he’s giving out and he’s definitely calmed down. He’s like ‘We’ll put a fence up, not a complete wall’ and ‘I’m not going to completely repeal Obamacare. I’m just going to replace certain aspects.’ So I feel like he’s being more reasonable. I think it’s going to be okay.”

MARIELLA SYPA, FCLC ’19

“A Trump presidency is not going to be the end of the world. We shouldn’t be afraid of it, we should embrace it and be prepared for good things to come out of it. As FDR once said, ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.’ I think people on both sides need to take a step back and really look at the bigger picture at hand…We all play for the same team and want to see our country prosper and move forward.”

STEPHANIE HARB, FCLC ’18

“I just felt like my place in the world was being challenged, that the better part of America doesn’t want my successes, that the better part of America doesn’t want my safety, the better part of America doesn’t care about qualification, the better part of America doesn’t care about decorum, the better part of America doesn’t realize the way that America affects the whole world abroad, that this soundwave that we’re thinking is just contained within our little box doesn’t just affect us.”