Michaelangelo Landgrave addresses the audience at the post-election panel on Nov. 11, 2024. (Ainsley Coogan/CU Independent)
On Nov. 11, a panel of political science faculty from the University of Colorado Boulder held a discussion on “Immigration, Race, Gender, Class and Sexuality after the 2024 Election” at the Lucille Berkeley Buchanan building on CU Boulder’s campus.
Michelangelo Landgrave, Regina Bateson, Lorraine Bayard de Volo and Michaele Ferguson joined together to discuss on questions the Boulder community might have following the election. Both CU Boulder students and Boulder community members attended the panel.
The political science faculty explained the event would focus on President-elect Donald Trump’s speculative policies. The original plan was to provide insights into both candidates, as they had assumed that the election results would not be finalized by the panel. This changed as, by Nov. 11, the Associated Press had officially called the presidential race for Trump.
Throughout the panel, they noted that, without the official results of the House election, the way legislation will be affected was not definitive.
The political science faculty will hold a follow-up session in the coming weeks.
Speculative immigration policies
Landgrave, an assistant professor of political science specializing in immigration and Latino studies, was joined by Bateson, who specializes in comparative politics with a focus on Central America and immigration, to discuss the impact that the upcoming presidential term might have on immigration.
Landgrave began with a brief synopsis of the policies he would expect Trump to create regarding immigration.
“During (Trump’s) campaign, he often has discussed mass deportations,” Landgrave said.
He said that the deportations wouldn’t look like they did under other presidents, such as the Eisenhower-era deportations of the 1950s, but would instead likely be a push to end programs such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, rescinding temporary protected status from mainly Central American countries and limiting the use of waivers in the immigration process.
When the Q&A opened to the audience, much of the audience had concerns about what visas and plans for international students at CU Boulder would look like.
Landgrave expressed his hopes for a policy that would provide green cards to international students after they have graduated, similar to the graduate visas available in the United Kingdom. He noted that the benefit was typically only for elite universities, naming Oxford and Cambridge as examples, so it is still speculative.
Taking a more pessimistic approach to how Trump’s immigration policies might impact international students and universities across the nation, Landgrave shared a personal reflection of his experience as an international graduate student during Trump’s first term in office.
“I was fortunate that one of my community members was actually the dean of the university… (the dean) said, ‘Don’t worry about yourself… However, here’s the dark side, realistically, we are not going to recruit more international students during this administration, or at least significantly curtail it,’” Landgrave said.
Policies relating to gender and sex
Ferguson, an associate professor of political science, opened her introduction to the panel by explaining her views on the current Republican party.
“I think it’s really important to note that the coalition that Trump has built in the Republican party is very diverse,” she said.
She named libertarians and conservative evangelicals as two demographics present in the Republican party with different views on major topics.
Ferguson explained that, with a coalition made up of different extremes, Trump could face difficulty succeeding in future midterm elections.
She said it is imperative the government “somehow (engages) in policymaking that somehow keeps the coalition together in order to maintain a Republican majority in the House, presuming that they get one, and in the Senate.”
The Republican party has since secured control of the House, in addition to the Senate and presidency.
In terms of a federal-level abortion ban that some audience members feared could occur, Ferguson explained that senators are unlikely to support such a drastic change in abortion policy.
Instead, Ferguson cited policies that she saw as more likely to be affected, such as the Comstock Act, which she said could potentially begin to be enforced again, though many say it would take much effort. This act could impact the ability to distribute drugs used for chemical abortions in the mail.
In agreement with the other faculty on the panel, Ferguson said she is not sure what the next four years will look like for other areas related to reproductive rights.
“It’s really unclear to me how a Trump administration is going to handle birth control or IVF,” Ferguson said.
LGBTQ+ rights
Bayard de Volo, a professor of women and gender studies, went on to explain the impact Trump’s upcoming second term could have on LGBTQ+ issues like gender-affirming medical care, transgender service in the military and same-sex marriage.
“On Day 1, I will sign an executive order instructing every federal agency to cease the promotion of sex or gender transition at any age. They’re not going to do it anymore,” the president-elect has said
Before addressing the potential to overturn the right to gay marriage on the federal level, she noted that the overturning of Roe v. Wade was the catalyst for the revaluation. This is because both abortion and same-sex marriage previously were protected under an individual’s right to privacy. Since abortion is no longer considered under the Fourteenth Amendment, Bayard de Volo said that other rights currently protected could be reevaluated.
“The Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade might have trickle-down effects for other Supreme Court decisions,” Bayard de Volo said.
She explained that while Trump himself does not have the executive power to get rid of the right to same-sex marriage on the federal level, he can appoint Supreme Court Justices who are in favor of doing so if any vacancies appear on the Supreme Court during his time in office.
Policies impacting campus
In terms of how specific policies might impact CU Boulder students, Landgrave expressed his concerns for potential reforms to Title IX. These concerns stem from changes to Title IX during Trump’s first term, which were later rolled back under President Joe Biden.
Ferguson pointed out the challenges that Trump’s administration’s changes posed for assault survivors.
“(The changes to Title IX) puts a lot of restrictions on what kinds of cases universities and colleges could actually pursue if there was a complaint brought to them, and it restricted them to just assaults that were alleged to have happened on campus or in university or college-recognized facilities,” Ferguson explained.
Landgrave also reinforced his concerns about what the international student population might look like during the next four years at CU Boulder.
“I am very much worried about the negative repercussions that this will have in our ability to recruit international students. I think they will be deterred from applying to the United States in favor of more friendly countries,” he said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ainsley Coogan at ainsley.coogan@colorado.edu
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Avery Clifton at avery.clifton@colorado.edu
