The recent presidential election has been traumatic for many citizens. Not because elections themselves are dangerous for voters — no one in the United States needs to fear for his or her physical safety while voting, there is no longer a widespread fear of inaccurate tallying of votes, and even the fear of legitimacy challenges to the electoral system this year is nullified by the fact that Donald Trump has won the popular vote as well as the committed votes of electors charged with voting for their candidate.

The trauma is ascribed to the violation of the tender feelings of those terribly frightened by Trump’s victory, and nowhere is the concern more salient than in higher education.

It’s a sad reality that this is going on in the very institutions where we longtime professors have endeavored to teach students and, as the American Association of University Professors mission statement advocates, “shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country’s colleges and universities.”

College and university students — and professors and administrators — should know or be taught that life in a democracy comprises differing opinions, including on politics. Deal with it — conservatives have dealt with liberal dominance in schools for as long as any of us can remember.

Some, including those decision makers in our most elite universities, think that election outcomes that disappoint many in academia necessitate the organization of bulwarks against psychological trauma.

Let us look at a few examples of reactions in higher education to Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election of 2024:

The Detroit Free Press reports that “elite schools like Harvard [which canceled some classes], Columbia and Georgetown were offering everything from optional attendance to milk and cookies for students to deal with Donald Trump’s victory … and a [Harvard] physics instructor offered her office as a ‘space to process’ for people who were ‘fearful for the future’ or ‘embarrassed to face our international colleagues.'”

At the University of Oregon, baby goats and other therapy animals were taken to campus to combat anxiety engendered by the election. A professor at Michigan State University canceled her classes to “grieve” over the election results.

Is this “trauma-reduction” unprecedented? Well, no — in 2016, when Trump won his first presidential term, the Wall Street Journal reported under the title “Colleges Try to Comfort Students Upset by Trump Victory,” in addition to other examples, “Dozens of students at Cornell University gathered on a major campus thoroughfare for a ‘cry-in’ to mourn the results of the 2016 presidential election Wednesday, with school staff providing tissues and hot chocolate.”

But 2020’s Biden-Harris victory engendered no institutional psychological panaceas — apparently none was needed.

I, a retired professor, voted somewhat reluctantly for Trump this election, but I was not traumatized a whit when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election.

I have taught classes for over 50 years in the academy, but never, including 2016, have I seen students unable to handle the results, and if a student asked me if he or she could get counseling after an election result, I would have said, sure, but I’ll have to mark you absent if you miss class.

The country is not going to fall, and the university will remain strong. It might even be better, ladies and gentlemen; who knows?

But for our future leaders in work, family and life in general, college is a time to toughen up.

Psychologically over-dependent adults fare much worse in life. We should encourage college students to exhibit courage and self-assurance when faced with the challenges life throws at them. They can be assured that there will be far tougher ones coming their way than last week’s election returns.

Richard E. Vatz (rvatz@towson.edu) is professor emeritus of political rhetoric at Towson University and author of “The Only Authentic of Persuasion: the Agenda-Spin Model” (Bookwrights House, 2024).