He recalled grappling with similar questions twice before, though there were "different levels of that trauma" each time: in the midst of the Larry Nassar scandal and after the 2023 campus mass shooting.

MSU faculty have the difficult task of addressing an election that has distressed some students without ostracizing those who feel differently. Some have chosen to keep their personal political beliefs to themselves. Others have been vocal about how the election has affected them, a choice university administrators say should be exercised with caution.

In any case, many professors have used the classroom as a space for students to process and learn from the news.

Gould avoided taking sides and let his students do the talking, he said, choosing to open class with a group discussion.

"I wanted to stay very neutral," Gould said. "I have to be careful about how I approach it, because people have different feelings about issues and how they voted. And I wasn't going to assume that all students all voted one way or the other, or that some issues were less important or more important."

Professors receive online criticism 

Other faculty did not try to hide their political beliefs. In fact, one professor’s vocal reaction to Trump’s election spurred additional guidance from university administration on how to respond to the news.

Shlagha Borah, an assistant professor in the College of Arts and Letters, announced to her students that class would be canceled hours after the Associated Press called the race for Trump.

"I am canceling class today to grieve the presidential election results," Borah wrote, according to screenshots shared on social media. "As a queer immigrant woman of colour, I cannot, in good conscience, go about my day like everything is alright. This is a major historical event that we are witnessing. I hope you take this time to take care of yourself."

The fact that she was canceling class to "grieve" Trump’s election did not mean that students who had voted for the former president, or held any other political views, would be unwelcome in her class, Borah wrote.

"Having said that, please know that no matter your political beliefs, you are welcome in my class and won’t be discriminated against in any way. Please reach out to me if you want to talk."

Within hours, Borah’s announcement — originally posted to her class’ D2L homepage — found its way into the hands of prominent right-wing online agitators. 

Libs of TikTok, a popular conservative account on X, formerly known as Twitter, whose critiques of liberal educators and social media users often inspire bomb threats and hate mail to its targets, posted screenshots of Borah’s announcement online. The screenshots have amassed over 2 million impressions across several accounts and have since been reported on by conservative media outlets, with many portraying Borah as overly-sensitive and biased.

Meet queer professor Shlagha Borah of @michiganstateu. She sent this memo canceling all classes to “grieve” the presidential election results. She says she can’t go about her day like normal. pic.twitter.com/fMsQKMxEIr

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 6, 2024

MSU moved to limit how the general public could contact her. Borah’s profile on the College of Arts and Letters online directory was removed, and Borah deleted her X account and her personal website is currently set to private.

Borah did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.

MSU manages election fallout

Borah was only one of many professors who canceled classes or made them optional for students following the election.

MSU spokesperson Emily Guerrant said the university was quickly notified of such class cancellations and received "copies of some of the social media posts." 

University officials also heard from students who felt uncomfortable taking classes after seeing "their faculty member was canceling the class or making it seem like what happened with the election was a bad thing," Guerrant said.

In response, Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education Mark Largent reminded deans and other top faculty of the university’s expectations around canceling class in a meeting of the University Committee on Undergraduate Education on Thursday.

Largent, in an email to The State News, said he didn’t tell faculty to not cancel class or make political statements. But he did remind them of a section of MSU’s Code of Teaching Responsibility which states that instructors are "responsible for meeting their classes regularly and at scheduled times" and that they must notify their units if they will be absent.

Largent also told faculty they "wouldn't need to comment on the election as part of a reason for not having class … and they don't need to share their party affiliation or their personal reaction to the campaign," Guerrant said.

Largent was not available for an interview and didn’t respond to additional questions by the time of publication.

MSU isn’t trying to limit faculty’s ability to express their views, Guerrant said.

"Faculty should be able to express how they feel about a situation, absolutely, but they shouldn't do it in a way that maybe influences their students," Guerrant said. "There's a line to walk between sharing your views on a situation but also doing it in a way that makes students feel like they can't share their views."

The guidance issued to faculty comes as MSU moves toward "institutional neutrality," a term used to describe formal policies barring universities from issuing political statements. While MSU’s president and board are still discussing whether to officially enact such policies, the university has already issued guidance to administrators explicitly describing its institutional "tone" on the Israel-Hamas war as "neutral."

MSU’s own response to the election results took an impartial tone, yet acknowledged concerns often raised by liberals about Trump’s plans for higher education.

MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz encouraged students in an email two days after the election to recognize "our common humanity and the inherent dignity in each other," acknowledging that the election "stirred strong feelings."

"Spartans won’t always agree, and that’s ok," Guskiewicz wrote. "A big part of the MSU educational experience is grappling with the many ways to live and view the world."

But, he acknowledged "well-founded concerns about how the election will impact diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and Title IX processes."

"Please know that no matter what happens, we all belong here, and the university remains committed to inclusivity and will navigate any changes and challenges by uplifting our values," Guskiewicz said.

Faculty differ in approach to election

For Bryan Ellis, an assistant professor in the College of Social Science, being transparent with students about his political views was essential to fostering a genuine conversation about the election outcome, which he held in class on Wednesday. 

Ellis, who told his class he voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, said stating who he voted for shouldn’t impact his ability to connect with his class, lead discussions or teach course material. If anything, Ellis said, shying away from the political choice at the foundation of voting "can be constructed as a bit disingenuous." 

"Part of being human is to say, very openly, that I engaged in the same act of voting," Ellis said. "I understand I voted for who I voted, you voted for who you voted for, and I respect that. That’s the process, that’s the way it works, but I don’t think I necessarily need to hide that."

Divya Victor, an associate professor of English and director of the university’s creative writing program, said there’s a difference between a professor expressing their point of view and having a "biased framework" that makes students feel alienated for their political beliefs.

"We cannot embody forces of neutrality," Victor said. "I just don't think that's possible. But we can make sure that our teaching environments are always inclusive."

Victor said that she and most of her colleagues used their classrooms to discuss how students felt about the election.

It was a needed opportunity, since "everyone who did come to class was crestfallen, dismayed, and sad," she said.

Gould said that in one of his classes, students spent over half an hour talking about the election. Afterwards, he got an email from a student thanking him for the discussion.

"It helped her get through the day," Gould said.

Ellis had made a point to inform his class before the election that, regardless of the results, his class would be a space to safely discuss how they felt.

"I wasn’t trying to turn this into a teachable moment," Ellis said. "I was simply trying to be here as another fellow American, another human being, and process with them, reflect with them and be present."

Ellis likened his openness in discussions to how public sociology, a niche within sociology, recommends academics “not always get caught up in the ivory tower” and instead have frank conversations with the everyday people they study.

Holding open conversations for students to process and express their feelings after a major news event, like a presidential election, fit nicely into Ellis’ broader teaching philosophy, which he said promotes a "call and response" between students and faculty. 

"It’s a back and forth discussion between the professor and the students where I ask for a lot of engagement on their part," Ellis said. "So it bodes well with my pedagogy."

Victor also sees an intersection between politics and her field of study. 

"I see creative writing as a socially engaged practice, where poems and essays are in conversation with realities created by our political choices," she said. "So the classroom is not merely a place for emotional processing but a site where we are doing the real work of learning how to build (and constantly rebuild) society through the imagination and language."