By Rowan Behm, Carrington Davis and Mason Dare
The Scene staff
Many students, faculty and staff at Forest Park are still in mourning over the Nov. 5 presidential election.
That’s according to a random survey taken by The Scene two weeks after former President Donald Trump beat Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I’m disappointed,” said Terris Thompson, a staff member who mans the Student Center information desk. “I thought Kamala would have been a better president.”
Student Malik Ashe said he was “in shock” over Trump’s victory.
Other people used words such as “surprised,” “disappointed,” “bummed” and “frustrated.”
“I am definitely surprised about the gap (in number of votes),” said Camille Lofland, 19, a general transfer studies student, who thought it would be a closer race.
“A couple things that I’m worried about is Trump drilling oil in Alaska nature reserves and more strict laws. I liked how Kamala was for abortion rights for women.”
Sonography major Kaylyn McKoy, 22, also liked Harris’s position on reproductive rights, but she wasn’t totally in her camp.
“I’m pretty bummed that Trump won,” McKoy said. “But it was more like picking the lesser of two evils.”
Network engineering major Donavan Huddleston, 19, is worried about Trump’s promise to raise tariffs on imported goods as a way to increase domestic
production.
“I work with computers,” he said. “The parts come from overseas, and (the cost) is going to fall back onto the consumer. Prices are going up, but wages are staying the same.”
On the other hand, Huddleston thought Harris made some mistakes during the campaign. She tried to please too many different demographics, he said, and she didn’t have clear goals.
Huddleston noted that it was less than four months between the time President Joe Biden withdrew from the race and Election Day.
“I think if (Harris) would have had more time, it would have gone different,” he said.
The main disappointment of Wareen Ford, 62, who works in the housekeeping department, was that she didn’t get to see a woman become president.
“We should have at least given her a chance instead of giving a convict a chance to go back into the White House. I don’t think it was fair.”
Ford was referring to the fact that a New York City jury convicted Trump in May of 34 felony counts related to his hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her from speaking publicly about an alleged affair, which he denied.
Ford also is concerned about how a Trump presidency will affect education in general and St. Louis Community College in particular.
“Who knows what we’re going to go through?” Ford asked. “What about financial aid? What about grants? What about the day care funding for children and grandchildren? All of that.
“What are we going to do if students leave and I have no job?”
Fellow housekeeping employee Peter Stamper also doesn’t like the idea of a felon serving as president.
“If you can’t vote as a felon (in some states), how can you run for president?” he asked.
Student Frank Kalhorn believes some of his friends and acquaintances voted for Trump without being informed.
“It seems like a lot of people have a cult mentality, where they voted for him just because that’s what everybody was doing, and it’s frustrating,” he said.
“People don’t know what Project 2025 is. It’s just frustrating.”
Project 2025 is an initiative developed by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, as a blueprint for the first 180 days of a Trump administration, although Trump tried to distance himself from it during the campaign.
Several students and employees approached by The Scene declined to comment on the election. One student was indifferent about the results.
International student Jeudy Wedjine, 20, is studying English as a second language. She isn’t a U.S. citizen, and she couldn’t vote.
“I feel OK,” Wedjine said. “I don’t feel one way or another (about Trump’s win).”
