Post-Election Paper Project promotes honest reflection after election

The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life held a “Post-Election Paper Project” last wednesday to facilitate dialogue around the presidential election results. At the event, the walls of Tisch College’s Rabb Room were covered in large sheets of paper on which students could write or draw their feelings about the election outcome. The Paper Project was hosted by Tisch College, the ExCollege, the University Chaplaincy, faculty and the Office of Chief Diversity Officer Mark Brimhall-Vargas.

Nancy Thomas, director of the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tisch College, was one of the organizers of the Paper Project and wanted to offer a space in which anyone could contemplate their feelings on the election, as opposed to hosting a group discussion.

“We wanted to give people a chance to reflect. When you jump into a dialogue, everyone wants to move to action," Thomas said. "I think we at Tufts and all over the country really need to take stock of what just happened and what it means."

Alyssa Rivas, a diversity intern at Tisch College, referred to the project as “a quiet space” and “a space for reflection.”

“The first step in healing is being able to just understand what you're feeling. [The Paper Project is] just a space to order your thoughts and really figure out how you feel about this election, how you feel about America moving forward and what the Trump presidency will be and how it will implicate itself in your life,” Rivas, a junior, said.

As one of the students who attended the space, where snacks and button-making stations were also available, juniorHayley Oliver-Smith appreciated the event as an open, comforting space for dialogue.

“It's about giving students the space to come chill, de-stress or stress together,” Oliver-Smith said. “I think that's really valuable. I came knowing I would find people who are willing to talk in whatever way.”

Rivas said that the organizers were surprised at Trump’s victory, noting that the Paper Project was initially meant for students to discuss the lengthy election cycle.

“We did not really think that Trump was going to win and while we did talk about it ... it almost didn't seem real,” Rivas said. “So I think that we were planning an event that was going to be a reflection on the volatile nature of this election more so than the outcome.”

However, Brimhall-Vargas believed that it was crucial that all students, not only those who supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, felt comfortable at the event.

“We've strived to make sure that we can create a space where anybody could come and participate in any of the events that [the election series] offered, including this one,” Brimhall-Vargas said.

Additionally, the space was originally scheduled to be open from 5 p.m. until 8:30 p.m., but was opened instead at 1:30 p.m. that day, giving students more time to come in and express themselves. 

Among the anonymous contributions written, some expressed fear of growing divides in the United States.

"I’ve never been afraid of the color of my skin until last night,” one student wrote.

“I have nowhere to get deported to #brownbutnative,” another said.

“I can’t even look at my straight white friends who refuse to see how devastating this is," a third post said. "I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I’m so lost and don’t know who to trust.”

Other posts channeled hopeful sentiments for the future.

“Love each other slowly, in small moments, when no one is watching. When they ask you to stop so they can have their country back, don’t,” one said.

“'Never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it.' - HRC," another said, quoting Clinton.

Oliver-Smith noted the somber mood that had pervaded the Tufts campus throughout the day.

“As if on cue, the students and even the faculty assumed the mood of a funeral procession, pretty instantaneously,” Oliver-Smith said. “Not a lot of laughter going on. I was sitting in the Rez today and I heard a group of people laughing and [I looked at them in surprise]. Like, what could be funny, you know?”

Brimhall-Vargas agreed that students’ spirits had been deflated by the election.

“I think that people were experiencing the euphoria of politics [earlier], and I think people are experiencing now sort of the fall, the disappointment,” Brimhall-Vargas said.

However, Oliver-Smith saw some value in the disquiet following election day.

“It's bleak, but I also think that in that bleakness there's a lot of solidarity,” Oliver-Smith said. “You see that their values have been completely rejected by the American populace. That to me is devastating, but in the devastation there is so much opportunity for us to to come together. Figure out how to organize each other, figure out how to support each other.”