Benedikt Bussemer Mit der gestrigen Vereidigung hat Donald Trump sein Amt als Präsident der USA offiziell angetreten. Noch ist ungewiss, ob er seine Drohungen wie den Bau einer Mauer oder das Einreiseverbot für Muslime wahr machen wird, aber bereits jetzt steht fest, dass sich die politische Haltung Amerikas ändern wird. Kupferblau hat fünf Dozenten der Uni Tübingen befragt, was sie von Trump und dem Amerika von morgen erwarten.
1. Kari Griffin-Madeja
2. Andreas Hasenclever
3. Kristen Skinner
4. Thomas Nielebock
5. Thomas Diez
Kari Griffin-Madeja is a lecturer of Academic English at the English Department.
What were your thoughts when you first heard about Donald Trump being elected as the new president of the United States?
One thought was… really ‘Oh boy here we go, fasten your seatbelt’ and the other one was that the predictions were very wrong.
What influences will the election have on education in the U.S.? Universities, students etc.
There are two things I can see at the moment:
Of course it depends on how long all these things need to take effect, but the secretary of education, that Trump has not yet officialy nominated, is Betsy DeVos (now officially: Betsy DeVos; Anm. d. Autors). She is a champion of charter schools and private schools, so for school students, that means the priority will probably be less on public school students but more on creating other opportunities for private school students. In general, more public money will be spent on private educational ventures.
The other thing, for universities, that I would be concerned about if I were a student, is that the cost of higher education in the U.S. is incredibly high, I think unimaginable for German students and the amount of debts that students go into is extreme. I don’t see that changing under this administration.
What would you do if you were a student again and unsatisfied with the current political events like the U.S. election, the Brexit or the uprising movement of the far right in Europe?
There are organizations that have already been established to deal with specific issues, so in the U.S., but also internationally, there are organizations for women’s rights, refugees, controlling the Wall Street for example and there is also the ACLU, a civil rights movement in the U.S.
I would check them out, see what they’re doing about the current situation, about the U.S. administration and see if I’d support their mission.
Do you think that Trump will change the image Europeans have in mind when they think about Americans?
Yes! I mean it depends on your opinion, right? I’ve been in Germany for the second half of Bushs presidency and then for all of Obamas and there is definitely a different attitude that people have. For Bushs presidency I was really asked how in the world he could be elected twice and I’ve already been asked about Trump many times. So yes, I see that image changing and not in a positive way.
Weitere Interviews: