Students react to election with peaceful protest

Students+react+to+election+with+peaceful+protest

Alejandro Picasso, News

Donald Trump’s presidential election victory over Hillary Clinton has sparked nationwide protests that have even appeared on college campuses like UCLA, Ohio State and here at CSUSM.

On Nov. 10 just two days after the election came to a close, a protest took place during U-hour at the Kellogg Plaza. The protest of about 30 people gathered in the plaza and sat together in unity.

Organizers Arely Ayala and Jocelyne Arciniega created this peaceful protest for students to stand together and unite, no matter their ethnicity, sexuality or political views.

“I know that here on Cal State San Marcos, we are not really being united as a whole,” Ayala said.

Arciniega added, “We kind of just want to embrace what the school has [taught] us: to embrace everything that is around us. We all just unite as one and we make up everything that surrounds us. We should not be divided by political parties or anything like that. We should always just stand together and support each other against anything.”

The protest was motivated in part by Trump’s win of the election by 290 electoral votes but loss in the popular vote. This raised the question of whether or not the electoral college is the best way to elect our presidents.

“The point is to get everyone together maybe to make some change in the way that elections are made,” Ayala said.

The demonstration protested Trump and the comments he made during his presidential campaign.

“The reason we are more against [Trump] is because of speeches and how he says he doesn’t like certain ethnicities; what he has been saying about people’s sexuality; the harassment that’s been going on,” said Ayala.

The demonstrations across the nation have similar reasons for their protests when Trump was elected. The opinions of the country and CSUSM students vary, but regardless of what people think, it appears he will be our forty-fifth president.

Trump has already begun speaking about what he will do now that he has been elected. In such a strange and divisive time, Arciniega leaves us with this: “‘El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido.’ Pretty much sums it up. If we are united we will never defeated by anything or anyone.”