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UPDATE: What Is Electoral College and Why Are Americans Mad At It?
What is the Electoral College? Why are some Americans so mad about it? Why didn’t Hillary Clinton win when she received a larger number of votes than Donald Trump?
Even President-elect Donald Trump's opinions on this American institution have changed over the years:
Calls for Recounts in Three Major States
As of Nov. 29, CNN's popular vote count stands at:
Clinton: 64,469,963
Trump: 62,379,366
Jill Stein, the Green Party Candidate, has successfully funded recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and plans on funding one in Michigan (which has just been declared for Trump). The Stein campaign is not doing this to help Clinton, and instead says it is an "Effort to ensure the integrity of our elections."
Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Erik Elias said in a Medium post that the campaign does plan on participating in the Wisconsin recount, "In order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides."
This is what Trump had to say on the matter:
Electoral College History
The Electoral College was established in 1787, "As a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens," according to the National Archives and Records Administration.
There are 538 total electors. A candidate must win at least 270 to become the next president. Electors are assigned to states according to the number of representatives the state has in Congress, plus two for the senators, says the National Archives and Records Administration.
For example, Ohio has 18 electoral votes. This means that the state of Ohio has 16 Representatives, plus two electors for the Senators.
The current 2016 electoral map looks like this.
Only four presidents before President-elect Trump have lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College. According to the Times-Picayune of New Orleans, the last time this happened was in 2000 in the race between Al Gore and George W. Bush. Gore won the popular vote; Bush became president.
Many Americans are not happy with the way the system works. In a Change.org petition, over 4 million Americans are calling for the Electoral College to make Hillary Clinton the president on December 19, when the electoral college cast their ballots.
This plan would rely heavily on "faithless electors," who FairVote said are, "members of the electoral college who, for whatever reason, do not vote for their party's designated candidate."
Trump mentioned the popular vote on Twitter.
Unless the Electoral College breaks precedent in a large way, it is unlikely that the election results will be changed December 19.
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In The Student Life, the student newspaper for the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five liberal art colleges and two graduate schools in Claremont, California, student Rochelle Lu writes about readjusting to her Shanghai home after spending a semester in the United States.
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Cedarville University in the U.S. state of Ohio says it’s got more than 140 international students representing 44 countries.
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Morehouse College, a private, historically Black liberal arts college in the U.S. state of Georgia, offers a guide for international students interested in attending the school.
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- Take advantage of the school’s orientation program
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US reviews Columbia University contracts, grants over antisemitism allegations
The administration of President Donald Trump said on Monday it will review Columbia University's federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling.
Rights advocates note rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since U.S. ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Hamas militants' deadly October 2023 attack.
The Justice Department said a month ago it formed a task force to fight antisemitism. The U.S. Departments of Health and Education and the General Services Administration jointly made the review announcement on Monday.
"The Federal Government's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government," the joint statement said.
The agencies said no contracting actions had been taken yet.
"The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University."
The agencies did not respond to requests for comment on whether there were similar reviews over allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.
Columbia had no immediate comment. It previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.
College protests
Trump has signed an executive order to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.
Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's assault on Gaza. There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests.
During last summer's demonstrations around the country, classes were canceled, some university administrators resigned and student protesters were suspended and arrested.
While the intensity of protests has decreased in recent months, there were some demonstrations last week in New York after the expulsion of two students at Columbia University-affiliated Barnard College and after New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the removal of a Palestinian studies job listing at Hunter College.
A third student at Barnard College has since been expelled, this one related to the occupation of the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia last year.
Canada’s immigration overhaul signals global shift in student migration
From Europe to North America, nations are tightening their immigration policies. Now Canada, long seen as one of the world's most welcoming nations, has introduced sweeping changes affecting international students. The reforms highlight a growing global trend toward more restrictive immigration policies. Arzouma Kompaore reports from Calgary.
