The start of the spring 2021 semester also marked the start of a new American presidency.
On Jan. 20, Joseph Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States, and Kamala Harris was inaugurated as the 49th Vice President, making her the first woman to serve in the position.
Dr. Tracy Floreani, English professor, said the inauguration was what she expected it to be, but she was surprised by the emotional reaction it evoked from people.
“I don’t recall seeing that level of engagement and emotional expression in past inaugurations. I’ve seen excitement at some of them, but I feel like there was this collective sigh of tension and relief,” she said.
Floreani said she’s excited to have a woman vice president but thinks it’s long overdue.
“It’s amazing to me that as a world leader in the 21st century, it’s taken us a lot longer than our peers to have a woman in that kind of executive branch leadership position. I wouldn’t care what political party that person was in, I think a woman in the executive branch is long overdue,” she said. “I’m old enough to remember when Geraldine Ferraro was the vice-presidential candidate, and I remember being excited by that as a kid, the idea that there could be a woman vice president, so I was excited to see that come to fruition.”
Floreani also said she’s looking forward to there being a diverse presidential cabinet.
“I’m also just really excited by the diversity in the cabinet because I think it looks a lot more like America looks now,” Floreani said. “I think the multiplicity of voices in the cabinet is going to create greater equity across the country.”
Maya Momon, dance senior, said she enjoyed the simplicity of the inauguration ceremony.
“I felt like it was just so simple and not problematic. There was no ‘what is he going to say next?’ It just made sense,” she said. “A normal president going into a normal term giving hope”
Momon said she’s excited for the precedent set by a woman serving as vice president.
“I’m so excited for the generation under us to think that that’s normal,” Momon said. “I’ve lived half of my life with a Black president, so I thought that was normal, you know? There weren’t things I couldn’t do. So, having there be a woman, I think, is just inspiring the next generation even more.”
Madison Long, marketing sophomore, said she’s excited about the first woman vice president.
“I do think having a woman vice president, especially a woman of color, sets a really good scene for the future. I think it will make people feel more comfortable being diverse and feeling like they have more of an accepting and inclusive atmosphere,” Long said. “I’m looking forward to years from now getting to say, ‘I was there for that.’”
Long also said she enjoyed the poem at the inauguration, “The Hill We Climb,” by the first National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman. Long also said she was glad to see a theme of unification throughout the inauguration ceremony.
Footage of the inauguration ceremony is available for streaming through the C-SPAN YouTube channel.
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