Contest is still too close to call
Classes take back seat to ‘massive anxiety’
As the country awaits final results in the presidential election, many Texas college students feel a heightened level of anxiety as they juggle school, work and the uncertainty of the nation’s future.
In some cases, this means classes have taken a back seat to what has become Election Week as students find it difficult to tear themselves away from Twitter or TV during a tight race.
Students of color and those who are immigrants also feel like this election holds a lot of weight for their future.
“School just seems like the least of my worries right now,” said Alejandra Zuñiga, a senior government and political communications major at the University of Texas at Aus
tin. Though she attended all of her classes from noon to 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, Zuñiga, who is originally from Mexico, found herself on edge — checking the news, falling behind on lectures and worrying about family members who live in deep red areas of Texas.
“I had massive anxiety the whole day (on Election Day),” said Zuñiga. “I’m still a student. I still have to do well in class. It’s frustrating.”
With the race still close, students have tried to find ways to cope while maintaining social distancing guidelines. This means no large watch parties, but UT-Austin senior Jared Hrebenar, 21, said he had a small gathering to watch election coverage on the rooftop of his apartment.
Other students have focused on passion projects or new hobbies to distract themselves, Hrebenar added.
At Prairie View A&M University, graduate student Ocie Miles, 22, said the nervousness is palatable, with many students worried about what this election could mean for the historically black university. The college is located in the predominately white and Republican Waller County where several rallies for President Donald Trump have been held.
“We’re feeling very unsafe,” said Miles, adding that there have also been attempts to vandalize a Black Lives Matter mural on campus and fears of a Civil War stemming from the country’s divide and heightened awareness about racism.
Hrebenar said some students are “half-paying attention” to their Zoom classes or are skipping them all together, watching the news intently as results are updated.
For many, the election is deeply personal, he said.
Hrebenar, who is gay, said depending on how the election goes, same-sex marriage could be prohibited by the U.S. Supreme Court. “I could lose that right for myself personally.”
Stephen. F. Austin University senior Caroline Metersky, 21, said some of her friends at the Nacogdoches college have taken to drinking, and at least one friend went on a stress baking spree of which Metersky reaped the benefits in the form of a surplus of cookies. Others have taken their voices to social media, sometimes arguing with friends and strangers or trying to bring awareness to the election.
“It sometimes feels like that’s all you can do during the pandemic,” said University of Houston student Elizabeth Bergeron, 19. Bergeron, a sophomore in UH’s exploratory studies program, said she had been using social media to encourage students to vote, educating herself on the voting process and checking on friends to make sure that they safely made it to and from the polls.
Since Election Day, she’s been monitoring her news app every hour, texting her boyfriend about results and crunching numbers to predict a possible outcome.
“It’s so tight,” Bergeron said of the election. “A lot of us, all we can do is pray. That’s how we feel at this point.”
Dr. William Elder, chair of the department of behavioral and social sciences at the UH College of Medicine, said the concerns are understandable and that for many students, this has been their first real awareness of the political process.
“Some have very real threatening experiences that are fresh on their minds,” Elder said. “That freshness of that experience and how personally they’re involved and their risks is going to affect them.”
Stepping away from social media could also be helpful in giving students peace of mind, Elder said.
Elder advises students to assess the root of their fears or nervousness by taking their anxieties to paper or having a supportive discussion with someone they trust who might have experienced what they’re going through.
Focusing on schoolwork varies from student to student.
“For some, getting an education is an escape. To others, it’s a very small thing when the world is on fire,” said Ali Zaidi, 21, a government and Middle Eastern studies major at UT. “I’m not sure what the right answer is. I just know everyone is exhausted. The professors included.”
While some professors have kept to their syllabuses, many have been accommodating, canceling classes, giving extensions or offering excused absences on Election Day for those who wanted to tune into the news, Metersky and Zaidi said.
“We’re all grinding to a halt,” Zaidi said. “We’re fatigued from a year that seems like it will never end and an election that seems like it will never end. It’s hard to pretend things are normal when there are so many existential crises going on.”
“For some, getting an education is an escape. To others, it’s a very small thing when the world is on fire.”
Ali Zaidi, 21, UT student