NYU went silent after the shocking results of the presidential election last week. It seemed as if there was a universal understanding that everyone was devastated due to Trump’s win. However one fact seemed to be forgotten:  there are Republicans here at NYU.

As a matter of fact, the NYU College Republicans is an organization whose Facebook page has over three thousand likes. In other words, despite the silence on campus last Wednesday, at least three thousand people were likely happy to see a Democrat lose, and they should be able to express their feelings without the fear of being persecuted for having a different opinion. After all, if Clinton had won, the unfortunate truth is that Republican students would have most likely been ridiculed if they expressed sadness in response to the result. Trump may be a non-traditional Republican, but that does not mean we should assume that everyone on campus was in support of Clinton. In fact, assuming that everyone was devastated by Trump’s success goes against everything this university and this country stands for.

Here at NYU, we love to argue in favor of diversity, even though sometimes that does not appear to be the case in practice. However, a large aspect of diversity that we often forget is diversity of thought. During this election, Republicans at NYU were simply fighting for what they believe to be best for the United States, just as liberals who supported Clinton did. Of course, some of Trump’s more extreme rhetoric is objectively and morally reprehensible, but that does not mean all Republicans support those statements or are out to destroy America. In fact, almost all Americans share many common dreams such as a healthy economy, homeland security and affordable healthcare. While both sides have completely different views on how to achieve these goals, acting as though the other side is evil for having different ideas does not help anyone. Furthermore, at NYU we always argue that having a variety of perspectives makes us stronger, and when it comes to political beliefs our views should be
no different.

Whether we like it or not, Donald Trump is now the president-elect. And although personally we are liberals, we understand that constant opposition is not a viable option. Democrats can either spend the next four years villainizing Republicans, or they can try to work with them towards common goals. Even if this is not the most popular stance at our very left-wing university, it is reality that we have to contend with. It is time for us to see past our differences and work towards coming together because if we do not, no progress will be made.

Opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of WSN, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, November 20th print edition. Email Andrew Heying and Chuyu Xiong at [email protected].