By Alexandra Alarcon
A UC Santa Barbara faculty panel has warned of rollbacks in human rights and potential threats to democratic norms under a second Trump presidency.
UCSB’s Division of Humanities and Fine Arts held its quarterly “HFA Speaks” faculty panel on the implications of the November presidential election.
“I am particularly concerned, as a historian of the Reconstruction Era, at the permissiveness that the Trump administration showed in 2016. And I expect to see again social violence, unrest,” said UCSB History professor Giuliana Perrone, a scholar of the Civil War period and the Constitution.
“I'm concerned that some of the things that I recognize from my experience as a historian of the 19th century are going to be more common and prevalent in society today.”
Perrone spoke last week after the presidential election, alongside two colleagues in the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts, English professor Maurizia Boscagli and Religious Studies professor Joseph Blankolm. The three participated in an HFA Speaks zoom event, “Post-Election Reflection,” moderated by English and Writing student Kira Logan.
Trump swept the election, gaining control of the House and the Senate as well as the Oval Office. Panelists raised alarms that ranged from restrictions on marginalized communities to federal policies that could impose harsh education curriculum guidelines and limit academic freedom.
Potential repercussions of a second Trump presidency, they said, include curtailing reproductive and transgender rights — affecting women and LGBTQ+ communities. “The lives and health of women have been put into danger,” said Boscagli, who is affiliated with the Feminist Studies department.
Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, health care has been restricted, especially in states with anti-abortion legislation. And during Trump’s last presidency in 2016, a ban was imposed that prohibited transgender people from joining the military.
UCSB History professor Giuliana Perrone, bottom left, speaking at an “HFA Speaks” quarterly event with English professor Maurizia Boscagli, bottom right, Religious Studies professor Joseph Blankholm, upper right, and student moderator Kira Logan, upper left. Perrone addressed whether constitutional checks and balances can prevent President-elect Trump from acting above the law.
Boscagli thinks that another Trump presidency will increase hateful rhetoric and an erosion of these groups' fundamental rights.
“At large, we are living, very unfortunately, in a period of profound anti-feminist backlash, and this backlash has been amplified, exacerbated by the rhetoric circulating during the campaign,” she said. “Now there's the promise of a more aggressive attack on their rights,” Boscagli said.
In education, the panelists noted that academic freedom is under threat as certain states will ban aspects of the curriculum that do not align with the Trump administration's guidelines, regardless of scholarly evidence — for example preventing educators from teaching critical race theory.
During the panel, Religious Studies professor Blankholm shared a document of educational guidelines in Florida that he had received from a colleague there. It states that in all general education courses the curriculum cannot teach identity politics or be based on theories that show systematic racism, sexism, oppression and privilege are inherent in institutions of the United States and serve to maintain inequalities.
“If you found any evidence indicating that that was the case, it doesn't matter what the evidence is. You can't say that, and that's the tension that we're talking about here,” Blankholm said. “If you have evidence for something being the case, you're being prohibited from showing that evidence. That's a sharp turn from how the current academia works.”
President-elect Donald Trump on election night, as he gains control over several “swing-states” electoral votes, gaining him a lead in the presidential race.
Photo by Evan Vucci
In the question-and-answer segment, UCSB Writing faculty member Nomi Morris asked whether there are still enough checks and balances in the system to uphold the Constitution and prevent President-elect Trump from governing as if he is above the law.
“If the entire government is staffed by his people, and Congress is unwilling to do its job…I think you're not going to see normal, or at least what we consider customary, checks and balances actually play out,” Perrone answered.
“It's worth noting that there are some checks and balances that are specifically articulated in the Constitution, and then there are those that have come to be expectations that have developed over time, and are really more like customs.”
Please click here to watch a video recording of the entire panel discussion.
Alexandra Alarcon is a fourth-year UCSB student majoring in Sociology. She is a Web and Social Media Intern with the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.