The following is a complete transcript of President Ed Wingenbach’s remarks on the election of Donald Trump, as delivered to the campus community on November 6th, 2024:
Welcome.
I would say, “what a beautiful day it is.” But it isn’t. It’s kind of perverse that the weather is so nice on what is really a tragic day.
There are three months before January 20th, […] and we need to begin to prepare to think about the initiatives that we’ll need to adopt here to protect the students, staff, and faculty of Hampshire. I also want to reassure people—I mentioned in the e-mail that I sent out this morning that we have the capacity to do things like control access to campus, and to check identification, and to take other steps if they are necessary. So far, it doesn’t look like those are becoming necessary, but if they do, you will know. We’ll make sure to communicate clearly and quickly when any of those things happen.
So—you all know this—you’re here. You’ve had this experience, most of you have had experiences more profound and dangerous for you than it is for me. But Trump’s campaign was unambiguous. The core of his appeal was to attack the very humanity of everyone who opposes him, of everyone who is vulnerable, of everyone who hopes for a just, sustainable, and equitable world. His campaign emphasized hatred and division, stoking ridiculous and paranoid fear of trans people, of immigrants, of refugees, and of protesters whom he has repeatedly threatened to jail and deport. He and his allies launched unvarnished racial and gendered attacks on both Kamala Harris and entire communities, and these were not even minimally coded or obscured. The racism, the misogyny, the bigotry, were open and intentional.
“[W]e must prioritize ensuring that Hampshire College remains a sanctuary, a community, and a place where those Trump and his followers want to exclude and revile, can instead gather and build strength to resist and to exist.”
Ed Wingenbach, President of Hampshire College
There is no concealing this fact: Trump promised to enact policies that are racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, anti-immigrant, harmful to the environment, and hostile to higher education. And a majority, it looks like at this point, of Americans are willing to either endorse or accept those values.
This is not hyperbole. I know that there are people out there in the world who hear things like this and say, “Oh, you’re taking this too seriously,” “Oh, you’re going too far,” “Oh, this is too much.” It’s not hyperbole. It’s not an exaggeration. It’s not fear-mongering. Over and over throughout contemporary history, we see authoritarians and fascists tell us what they will do. While others temporize and make excuses for them, again and again, they do what they said they would do.
“I know that Trump has won. I believe that Trump will do what he said he was going to do. And I believe that Hampshire, and our community, and the people who you care about and who care about you will find ways to protect one another.”
Ed Wingenbach, President of Hampshire College
The identity of Hampshire College is fundamentally defined by the communities and activists that Trump targets. Our campus is both uniquely threatened, and also uniquely poised to offer sanctuary. People come to Hampshire, in part, because they have been driven out of their homes and their states and their countries by anti-trans policies, by homophobic rhetoric, by attacks on freedom of protest, and in the case of students from New College, a test run for the program that Trump will now try to impose on higher education nationally.
While today is a time for consolation and mutual support, as we prepare for the coming months, we must prioritize ensuring that Hampshire College remains a sanctuary, a community, and a place where those Trump and his followers want to exclude and revile, can instead gather and build strength to resist and to exist.
So, for today, I hope that we can support one another in grief, fear, and dread; and perhaps also help one another find ways to move from the immediacy of trauma to the possibility of some kind of hope so that we can eventually bring those feelings and experiences with us to inform action.
And I know that that leaves us with a lot of ambiguity about what comes next. I can’t resolve that. What I can say is, I know that Trump has won. I believe that Trump will do what he said he was going to do. And I believe that Hampshire, and our community, and the people who you care about and who care about you will find ways to protect one another.
And that has got to be the core of what we’re doing here at the college, as much as we can, over the next weeks, months, and, now, years. And there will be more to be said at some point, but I’m going to leave that there. […]
I’m so sorry this happened, I wish it went differently.
I wish we were a different country.
REVIEWED BY: Ryan Nivus, Axen Wetzel, Verne Gulley
