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Colleges Offering Therapy to Students 'Traumatized' by Election Results

Cornell holds a "cry-in," Tufts offers arts and crafts

AP
November 10, 2016

Colleges throughout the country are offering students a variety of therapeutic activities after Donald Trump was elected president on Tuesday night.

The Wall Street Journal highlighted a number of examples from across the country.

Students at Cornell University gathered to hold a "cry-in" with students drinking hot chocolate and using tissues handed out by school staff. The University of Kansas announced that it would regularly bring in therapy dogs to campus while Tufts University had arts and crafts on hand.

Such initiatives have immediately attracted criticism for students being too emotional over the election results and unable to withstand disappointment. Schools defended the gentle treatment by saying that students have real concerns about Trump's presidency.

Some teachers even cancelled classes so that students could "recover," the Journal reported.

Still, Alan Peel, an astronomy lecturer at the University of Maryland canceled a test scheduled for Wednesday morning, writing to students that he worried some of their performances may be affected by "the monumental effort necessary to accept what must be a personally threatening election result."

He opened the message, "Given that the nation in which you currently reside decided last night to elect a president whose own words have painted him a moral and possibly physical hazard to many of us ...," according to a copy reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

Julia Abraham, a 19-year-old student in the class, said she was relieved by the news and supported her professor's decision. "Our class is very diverse," she said, including "many who are directly targeted by Mr. Trump." She said she thought "a bit of grieving time" would allow students to perform better on the test down the line.

When a teacher at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education told his 11 doctoral students that class was optional the next day, six said they were not coming.

Published under: Donald Trump , University