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Universities are boosting counseling services as Trump’s victory prompts some young people to threaten suicide

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Universities are boosting counseling services as Trump’s victory prompts some young people to threaten suicide

“Some of this may just be emotional craziness.”

There’s a trend online where young people are threatening to kill themselves in the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election to the Oval Office, and college and university counselors and crisis centers went into overdrive to help struggling students cope with the results.

One user posted on Another one posted“Maybe I’ll kill myself in front of the main building as a form of protest.” Another one wrote“If Trump wins, I will commit suicide, I have my knife ready and medicine as backup.”

Some students tearfully engaged in drinking games to cope with the outcome.

There were dozens of them hover around X as election results poured in both before the election and after the outcome was declared. Higher education has responded to the wide variety of disappointments by offering a variety of counseling and grief services and promoting them in campus-wide emails.

“(T)here are a number of processing areas available for students, and we have reserved Benson 406 for you until 2:45 p.m. today. If you need to step out, have a moment of silence, or connect with another team member, use this time and space to do just that,” according to a memo sent out by Wake Forest University the day after the election.

Texas State University’s Division of Student Success also sent an email to the student body informing them of the availability of the Counseling Center “for individuals processing the results of the election.”

The email included a link to their 24/7 counseling hotline, which they encouraged students to download and use. It also invited students to a university event called “Now What?!: After Election Debrief,” billed as “an opportunity for our campus community to come together and (discuss) the election results in a welcoming and supportive environment.”

The Texas State University Counseling Center declined to comment The College Fixwith one official claiming there is no time for it due to ‘peak demand for clinical services’.

Asked to elaborate on the extreme reaction, Kentucky State University political science professor Wilfred Reilly said that “a lot of the hysteria is caused by people being hysterical.”

“Most of that is because of the hysteria being spread from the left about Trump, with people saying things like, ‘He’s going to ban contraception,’” Reilly said in a telephone interview, adding that this position has no basis in reality.

“I mean, you’re talking about a New Yorker living in a gold penthouse with his pro-choice Slav model wife. That’s not going to happen,” Reilly said.

Reilly had discussed the emotional breakdowns in his own post on X.

“I’m not sure in this population of theater kids how much of it is real,” he said The solution. “I mean, if you look at the murder and suicide rates per month in the US, I haven’t seen any spikes. Maybe next month. Some of this may just be emotional craziness.”

In addition to Texas State U. and Wake Forest, the University of San Francisco hosted a “post-election community reflection” to provide students with a “time and space to heal.”

Students at Georgetown University were offered a safe place to color and drink hot chocolate after the elections. The school provided students with a “Legos station” and “Milk and Cookies,” according to an email from the director of student engagement.

On Election Day, they were Harvard students as long as time to meet “Sunshine”, the doll to de-stress. The Harvard Crimson reported that professors canceled classes the day after the election and lightened student workloads.

At Binghamton University, officials issued guidelines for student dialogue after the election, in which they advised students to “be aware of how much space you take up in the conversation and especially how that intersects with your privileged identities.”

A similar trend occurred after Trump was first elected in 2016. The University of Pennsylvania, for example, offered a “breathing space” after the election included cuddling with cats and a puppy, coloring and crafts, and snacks like tea and chocolate.

Also in 2016 there was a cry-in at Cornell and a group hug at Rice University.

MORE: Oregon driver on leave after wishing Trump voters would commit suicide

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