In the aftermath of a contentious election, Professor of Politics Stephen Engel reflects on the experience of supporting students and simultaneously navigating his own emotional responses to the political climate. We sat down with him to gain insight into his experiences before, during and after the election, as he balanced his individual processing with providing support, and reflected upon the implications of the election for institutions like Bates.
In the weeks approaching the election, Engel explained, it was a frequent topic in the Politics Department’s weekly meetings. “We considered canceling classes, and mostly settled on holding class with space for other conversations. This was under the assumption that the outcome wouldn’t be known so soon,” he said.
“I personally was of the belief that classes should not be canceled,” Engel said. “If folks felt comfortable, there were ways to talk in class about this and create space, but if students didn’t want to talk about it, there should be space for that as well.”
For Engel’s own class, Constitutional Law I, he announced in the beginning of the session that they would reserve the last 25 minutes to discuss the election, but that students were welcome to leave if they wished.
Engel, who co-hosted various election forums and debate watch parties in the lead up to the election, said, “If students had questions, I was happy to take them, with the caveat that I might not have answers.”
In an ongoing effort to provide post-election support in a variety of forms, the Politics Department held an election panel the day after. Engel, being involved in the organization of the panel since 2012 explained that it has taken many different forms over the years.
“We think it’s really important to create different ways for students, faculty, and staff to engage with this,” he said.
Beyond Engel’s willingness to be there for the community by answering questions to the best of his ability, he emphasized his interest in providing a lot of flexibility for his students, particularly his thesis students. Engel acknowledged that a lot of students were doing hard work in organizing related to the election.
“When you are not necessarily on the winning side and you have a lot of emotion about that, it’s hard to carry on as normal,” Engel said. “As a faculty member, how do we respond and support our students? How do we reimagine deadlines and plans to move forward, because the “power through it” doesn’t always work.”
Reflecting on students’ difference in reaction from the 2016 election to this election, Engel commented that one of the key differences in the emotional tenor is the results of the popular vote.
“With the Access Hollywood tapes right before the 2016 election, amongst other misogynistic quotes, the results just felt like a smack in the face,” Engel said. “It was exacerbated by the fact that we have this ridiculous institution, the electoral college, that inhibits popular choice in a way that is not inhibited in other western democracies.”
Engel commented that in 2016, “There was utter shock, in my recollection, and this deep hurt and frustration. This time, there’s also deep hurt and frustration, but we don’t have the institutional explanation to fall back on. Actually, the American public by a majority voted for this outcome. To me personally, that’s even more upsetting.”
On top of providing support for his students and the community, Engel was also emotionally navigating things for himself.
“I kind of surprised myself at the Wednesday panel, I did not expect to be as emotional as I was. I didn’t realize until that moment how disappointed, and increasingly disconcerted, I was with the results,” he said.
Engel, speaking on his personal coping process, expressed “I am going to take some time to be outside, to go to dinner with my partner, I am going to frankly exert control over the things that I can control.”
Furthermore, he commented that in wake of the election results and its implications regarding the attack on institutions of higher education “part of the question is: what are the responsibilities of an institution like Bates?”
Engel suggested, “perhaps what Bates should be doing is thinking about itself as an institution that needs to robustly defend democracy.”
As an institution of higher education founded by abolitionists “who were centered in challenging the governing status quo and the ruling cultural principles of white supremacy that reigned at the time of Bates founding,” Rather than a politically neutral approach, Engel believes Bates has the responsibility to explicitly express “we have a mission statement and set of values and we are a community grounded in that and if you don’t agree, perhaps seeks your education elsewhere.”
