Student Life in the Trump Era
Many older Americans still view the presidency of Donald Trump as an aberration, but for college-aged citizens the “reality tv show” style that dominates American politics is the only form they have known.
On the afternoon of May 21, 2025, three University of Alabama students, visiting Thessaloniki through a student exchange program with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, took part in a panel discussion about “Student Life in the Trump Era.” The discussion was billed as offering “Views from Alabama, observations from Thessaloniki” and co-organized and moderated by political science professors from the universities.
The students from UA noted that while Alabama is a deep “Red” state, all communities include diverse political views, especially those on college campuses. For example, they reported that while Trump had recently been welcomed by the university to give what was billed as a “commencement address,” there were four different protests organized in the city of Tuscaloosa, home of the state flagship university.
The students gave frank and personal reflections about the impact of political polarization within daily student life and, in response to questions from the AUTH students, also addressed concerns about the seeming breakdown of the US system of “checks and balances” and possible constitutional crisis. The discussion addressed issues such as costs of education and student loans, which were unfamiliar to students attending college in Greece.
Several members of Democrats Abroad attended the event and participated in the discussion, expressing concerns about the impact of the Trump administration’s “anti-DEI” efforts and state laws that ban DEI initiatives and the discussion of “divisive concepts,” generally referring to racial inequality, inside classrooms.
The students concluded the discussion by reflecting on their experience in Thessaloniki. They noted it exposed them to lectures and other events in which the US was not always the “main character” and viewed the US outside the lens of “American exceptionalism.” At the same time, they said their encounters have helped them experience how “we” are still all connected with shared concerns and hopes.
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