Meghan Holden

mholden@jconline.com

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Sam Walburn woke up in shock Wednesday morning.

The Purdue University student didn't expect Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to win Tuesday night.

In a surreal daze, he walked to his first class and saw a man wearing a T-shirt that read, "I carry," with a picture of a gun on it. Then the fear sank in.

Walburn, who is queer, said he's experienced physical and verbal harassment at Purdue because of his sexual identity and worries it will only get worse now that Trump's been elected.

"I know this type of election validates and justifies a lot of the hate and violence that's already in America and it kind of exacerbates this," he said. "It makes people that want to act violently against minorities — that feel threatened by this new culture of inclusivity and diversity — feel justified in their feelings and feel as though they can act on that because the man who told them that they can act in violence and incite violence was elected."

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Walburn decided not to go to his last class because the professor was a conservative man who wouldn't understand why his eyes were red from crying. He didn't email the professor about missing the class because Walburn said he knew he would not be sympathetic. Instead, Walburn went home and spent the afternoon crying until he fell asleep.

He wasn't alone in his decision to skip class due to the election outcome, and the Purdue Student Government anticipated that would be the case.

On Wednesday morning, the group shared a photo on its Facebook and Twitter pages that provided an email template for students to request an excused absence, extension or cancellation for classes or assignments that were due.

"Given the events of last night's election, many students on campus are feeling genuinely fearful and hopeless about the future of the country, whether based on their own identity or the identities of their friends and families," the template read. "I strongly encourage you to [cancel today's class/grant extensions/allow excused absences] for any students who need to take time for themselves."

The post received largely negative responses, with many people expressing shame and embarrassment of PSG's promotion of missing class and students' inability to — as several people put it — "grow up."

"I am appalled at Purdue University. We are raising a generation of wimps," one Facebook commenter wrote.

The backlash prompted a quick follow-up letter by PSG President Geri Denger, who explained the post's intention and noted that the group is nonpartisan.

"My intention was not in any way to be divisive; my intention was to offer support to any student who may feel unsafe at Purdue University," the letter read. "This letter was not meant as a personal pardon of students from their academic responsibilities; it was simply meant as a means of opening dialogue between students and faculty."

Denger said the responses she's received have been divided. Many students were thankful and said they used the letter, and their professors accepted it, she said. But the overwhelming and more visible feedback has been negative. Some faculty members contacted PSG members saying the election's results aren't an excuse to miss class, Denger said.

Despite the negative feedback, she doesn't want to delete the original post.

"I feel that by taking this down, we're kind of just going back on all the progress that we just made for those students," Denger said.

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But not every student government member supported the letter.

Kady Diallo, a student representative, said Denger sent out the template Wednesday morning to some of the cabinet members but only a few of them replied that it would be a good idea.

"I expressed my concerns that, you know, I don't think this would be accepted by anyone. I don't think it's a plausible excuse," Diallo said. "And before you know it, it's posted and the backlash starts from there."

Diallo also said she's made it a point to let students who might feel unsafe know there are other outlets to use rather than creating excuses to miss assignments.

"Our (student government) president is a good president. We make mistakes," she said. "But at the same time, it's not something that most of us support. I don't think it's a good idea, I don't think it's a valid excuse to miss class."

Contact J&C higher education reporter Meghan Holden at mholden@jconline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @MeghanHolden.

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