Colin Kohrs / Winonan

It is undeniable that the current political atmosphere across the U.S. has been one of division. Since Donald Trump was voted in as president-elect, the social climate has been rocky at best, even close to home.

While the U.S. does not track crime data fast enough to qualify any alleged surges, during an interview on “60 Minutes” on Nov. 14, when questioned about attacks, Trump urged perpetrators to “stop it.”

In Winona the scene has appeared less violent, but the climate is very much the same.

On Nov. 15 a community member came to the Winona State University campus, publicly sharing his views on political matters. He was met with many students of differing political opinions, and the altercation was, albeit peaceful, hostile at the very least.

In light of this atmosphere, there has been a need for people of all political affiliations to come together.

The Winona State KEAP Council, a student advocacy group and coalition of clubs on campus, held a sit-in on the campus grounds, on Nov. 21. This demonstration, organized by Nasro Abbas and Alexis Salem, was meant to bring people together and bring visibility to the division problem in society.

“(We’re here) to bring the campus together in solidarity to realize that we are all in a stressful environment, and we all have issues that need to be tended to,” Salem said.

Abbas described the event as “an effort to bring the campus community together. To reaffirm our position on this campus in light of the tense social climate in our nation.”

Salem added the event aimed to be a proactive response, rather than a reactive response to a tense social climate.

“(We want to) make sure everybody knows that we are together,” Salem said. “We understand that we all have these struggles and that we will not tolerate any kind of hate crime to any group.”

Many groups from across campus came to the sit-in, including Full Spectrum, the Latin American Student Organization, the Turtle Island Student Organization, the Women of Color Association, Black Students United, Muslim Students United, the Lutheran Campus Center and others. Non-affiliated students stopped by to show support as well as several staff members.

Taylor Weis, a student minister and workshop leader at the Lutheran Campus Center, said members of the center have been trying to find ways to create a more inclusive campus.

“Collectively at the Lutheran Campus Center, we’ve been talking about ways to stand in solidarity with other members of our campus and how we can also just express love and acceptance in every way we can and provide that for the world during this time,” Weis said.

Weis’ message is one that was echoed by many other voices at the sit-in.

Right now, one of the best ways to take action is to fight against the hate, rather than a political party, and to spread, as Weis said, “love and acceptance in every way we can.”

-By Colin Kohrs