UNC Chancellor Carol Folt, Student Body President Bradley Opere and chair of the university Board of Trustees Dwight Stone all opened their comments at Thursday’s board meeting talking about last week’s election.

Donald Trump being elected President of the United States came a surprise to many, including some on the Chapel Hill campus.

Folt said the shock may have been amplified since most of the students on campus are so new to the election process.

“For our students, it’s for many of them the very first time in their lives they’ve gone through this process, and it was a highly contested election,” Folt said. “It’s not going to be the only event in any of our lives that is highly contested, but I think we’re seeing that, ‘What do people think? How do you process it?’

“The privilege of being a university is that you encourage that.”

Some students have protested the results. Folt said reaction around campus as a whole has been mixed as everyone is navigating the surprising outcome.

“I’ve heard amazing stories of faculty that are talking about it in their classrooms and coming up with wonderful, productive conversations,” Folt said. “We’ve also had reports that some people aren’t handling it very well. And that we really want to also take on and work with.”

Board chair Stone called for more of those “productive conversations” Folt referenced.

“Our university is made up of students, faculty, administrators, trustees, alumni,” Stone said, “all with diverse ideas and opinions. I think we need to have respectful talk among all of our groups on campus.

“That’s our hope.”

Folt issued a statement in the immediate aftermath of the election and followed that up with an additional message to the campus this week calling for “respect for all.”

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