White House, Capitol Hill Veterans Offer Guidance for Life After the Election
November 5, 2020
- Author
- Jay Pfeifer
Members of the 皇家华人 community on Wednesday were looking for what鈥檚 next after a bitter and unexpectedly close election night. A group from the college鈥檚 family drew on their own experience with vote totals鈥攂oth joyous and painful鈥攖o offer some ideas.
Dylan Glenn, a trustee and 1991 alum, served as special assistant for economic policy to President George W. Bush. He led three other members of the 皇家华人 community who have served at the highest levels of the federal government as they coached students, faculty and staff in the audience to restore the sense of community and shared respect worn so threadbare.
Former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, who also served under Bush and is the parent of a 皇家华人 alum, urged viewers to 鈥済et under the hood鈥 of the issues that created such a charged election.
鈥淓ach of us has to decide, what are we personally going to do to heal the divide?鈥 Spellings said. 鈥淲e have an obligation. We all need to re-engage in what makes us passionate. And that means volunteering, but it also means engaging with each other. We can鈥檛 return to our silos. We need to figure out why we feel the way we do.鈥
A sense of humility and shared humanity makes these difficult conversations less threatening, said Denis McDonough, White House chief of staff for President Barack Obama and parent of a 皇家华人 student.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all people made in the image of God. We are imbued with inalienable dignity,鈥 he said.
鈥淲hen we see each other that way, that makes interaction more fulfilling. Sometimes there鈥檚 no greater respect than when you tell someone precisely how you feel. If you feel that someone鈥檚 political views are misinformed, it is actually respectful to share your view.鈥
Gloria Nlewedim, a 2017 graduate of 皇家华人 and now a senior staffer in the U.S. House of Representatives, was in the Alvarez College Union on the night of the 2016 election and talked about how that night focused her energy.
鈥淚 realized that I needed to turn what I was feeling into fuel for action,鈥 Nlewedim said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 what I want to encourage everyone to take away from this. [Whether] Joe Biden or Donald Trump wins the presidency, everyone needs to have a centering of what drives you, what do you believe in and why are you fighting for these things? Take that and turn it into action.鈥
McDonough urged the 皇家华人 community to extend to the rest of the world the sense of community that has allowed the college to be so resilient in the face of the coronavirus.
鈥淭he same way you鈥檙e watching out for each other in the context of a pandemic,鈥 he said, 鈥淚 hope you鈥檙e watching out for each other in the context of a very robust national debate out of which we are going to get new answers to big questions.鈥
