2025 Presidental Inauguration

JAMIE DIEDRICH
STAFF WRITER

1/20/2025

President-Elect Donald Trump takes office on the 20th of January, which shares a date with Martin Luther King Day. The Alma College community was dedicated to making sure students got out and were able to vote, so naturally they have some opinions about Trump entering office. With Alma College being so politically diverse, it’s no surprise that the day itself also brings forth mixed opinions around campus. 

There are two community members at Alma that were willing to share their thoughts on the Inauguration: Ashy Willover ‘27, and Communications Professor Matthew Doggett. When asked about the date itself. “I do think that since it’s Martin Luther King Day, there’s gonna be a lot of violence as there was last time. And Martin Luther King literally wanted it to be peaceful, so it’s just a crappy day,” said Willover 

Doggett was asked the same question but had less concern towards the date, “I have much stronger feeling about election day. The inauguration doesn’t offer any surprises, especially in this day in age. We either know exactly what is going to happen (even the speech), or almost exactly what is supposed to happen. This day isn’t supposed to offer surprises instead it is there to affirm our democracy,” said Doggett. 

While their opinions on the day itself differ, it’s how it will affect their Alma community that had both individuals looking into the future. Willover is focused on how the shift in power will affect her community and that of minorities on campus. “So, I have a lot of friends that are part of the LGBTQ plus community, my family is black, and a lot of my friends need their financial aid to be here, which is concerning since he wants to defund their department of education,” said Willover. 

“I live in the McCurdy House, the feminist house, and so we’re all pretty scared for our rights, so there’s a lot of fear. I think a lot of rights will be taken away. We have, like, women under attack, transgender people, even in a school setting,” said Willover 

“He wants to take away critical race theory teaching and transgender teachings, he wants to build a border still, and he said on day 1 that he wants to deport a lot of people. He wants to raise tariffs so we’re gonna have a lot of problems with other people,” Willover continued. 

“I think we won’t see a lot of changes, but we will see changes that 10-15 years down the road could really impact Alma. For example, we could see changes to the loan program that won’t impact students greatly now but could really make things difficult in the future,” said Doggett.

“The inauguration itself will probably have little impact on Alma College. Trump isn’t going to break out new policy there, and so we aren’t going to learn anything new, and Trump is going to be Trump,” said Doggett.

Despite there being ongoing protests towards this shift in power, nothing has changed aside from the inauguration being moved indoors due to the frigid temperature. So far, unlike other politically related broadcasts, Alma does not have any events planned regarding the inauguration and is choosing to focus solely on Martin Luther King Day. Students who may be suffering from anxiety due to the events of the inauguration are encouraged to reach out and schedule an appointment with a therapist at Wilcox Medical Center.