The Office of Social Justice, Inclusion, and Conflict Resolution (SJICR) held another meeting in its Dining for Diversity series last Wednesday to look at the relationship between gender and politics.

Timed around International Women’s Day and titled “I just couldn’t vote for her,” the lecture took a look at what prevented people from voting for Hillary Clinton, and drew people towards her opponent, Donald Trump. During the meeting, students were encouraged to hold discussions around the subjects of racism, gender and the election. During the meeting, a clip from the ABC show Black-ish was also played, illustrating many of the main points on both sides of the most recent presidential election.

The main point of the meeting was to have students discuss the interplay of gender, and how it may have impacted the trajectory of the most recent election.

Gabriela Carey, a senior human resources management major, said it was important to have a space where people came together in discussion on topics like this.

“I think that it is super important, especially at this point in our lives,” she said. “[It shows] we can remain professional in our opinions and discuss them civilly and respectfully.”

Sophomore biomedical engineering major Angelica DaSilva echoed Carey’s point, saying that having a space for discussion was extremely helpful.

“I think it’s extremely important,” she said. “I really like it also because it’s welcoming and I’m not afraid to share my opinion.”

Dr. J.T. Mills of SJICR said he was encouraged to see students come to the meetings being held.

“It’s very heartening,” he said. “The opportunity to do this may not be in some people’s classrooms.”

Mills related the story of one of the people at the discussion who noted that as an engineering student, he didn’t get this type of discussion in his classes.

“Unless students are in their residence halls talking about these issues, they may not have an opportunity to explore them,” Mills said.

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