As a Sino-American joint venture between Duke University and China, the 2024 US elections were widely observed on DKU’s campus. As the new administration takes foot, the DKU community reflected on how the election has impacted them.
Ky Boughton, a DKU junior, worked to smooth out the absentee voting process for American students on campus. She coordinated with the US consulate in Shanghai and DKU’s International Student Services to organize ballot pick-up on campus. Boughton emphasized that “everyone should have the opportunity to vote in the best interest of their families, friends and themselves”.
Reacting to the election outcome, she encouraged students to get involved and work to better their government.
Liam Powell, a senior, says that while he was disappointed in the outcome, he was excited to vote for the first time from abroad. Both Boughton and Powell emphasized how DKU and their experience in China shaped their view of this election. Both said it made them re-evaluate foreign policy stances and see the US-China relationship as more collaborative than what they had previously seen in the media.
Polish senior Alexandra Stryjska said that she followed the main events of this election because she “realized how important they are on the global scale.” She added that the president elect in the US is important to her because of its implications on the Russia-Ukraine war.
She says as a political and economic global player, “the fate of many current conflicts and the development of the economy will depend heavily” on who takes office in the US.
Senior Robin Wu from China says that he believes President Trump will have a positive impact on China, and is a competent business person who cares deeply about the United States. He emphasized that of the content he has seen on Chinese social media, this is the general consensus about Trump.
Boughton said that she is grateful to see the positive impact her efforts have had on absentee voter turnout on campus. She plans to establish online resources to make it easier for future DKU students to vote absentee in coming elections.
Since the election, there have been formal and informal discussions on what impacts the election may have on the university.
On Friday April 18 the DKU Public Policy Club hosted a roundtable discussion focused on the first 100 Days of Trump’s second term, with professors Lindsay Rathnam, Lincoln Rathnam and Zach Fredman from DKU, Jason Todd from Duke University, in addition to US Correspondent for the South China Morning Post, Bochen Han.
The discussion aimed to “unpack the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s return to office — and what it could mean for the U.S. and the world”. Online promotion for the event acknowledged “rising tariffs and trade tensions with China to democratic backsliding, the future of liberalism, and the growing uncertainty facing international students — including two recent deportations from Duke” and said the conversation would “explore the political, economic, and social consequences of the new administration.”
