After a controversial and polarizing year of campaigning, Donald Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States last night with a total of 279 electoral votes, according to the Associated Press.

Since word of Trump’s official win, public response has ranged from utter disappointment to cheerful optimism. Members of the Stony Brook community shared their take on the historic election.

Allie Zigomalas, junior history and art history double major

“I feel empty. As a young woman, I just watched a professor I admire cry, and it’s devastating to watch how it’s affecting first wave feminist fighters on this campus. It’s terrifying.”

Nick St. John, sophomore electrical engineering major

“I’m not going to lie, I voted for him so I was happy just because I didn’t trust what the other candidate was bringing to the table. But I was surprised. I definitely did not think that would be happening yesterday. I think either way, Americans always pull through no matter who’s in office.”

Andrew Glass, freshman journalism major

“I was very very shocked, especially because seeing all the projections, I really think most of the country was kind of blindsided by it. I feel like seeing everyone fight over it is really what we shouldn’t do. What we should be doing is trying to figure out a way to become a united country.”

Jiawen Shen, junior psychology major

“I was left speechless honestly. I’m an immigrant, I’m a minority and I’m a woman, and I feel like with Trump being president, people like Brock Turner, the rapist, will be out and open and be proud because this culture is being celebrated by a man who said, ‘Grab them by the genitals,’ judges women by their body shapes, called his opponent a nasty women and talked about her menstruation period. The list goes on.”

Carlton Johnson, senior political science major

“I know it was predicted that it was going to go back to the Republican side, but I was still kind of generally disappointed that the American people still voted for him. I’m more worried about the supporters of Trump that came out of this election more than the government side of it because there are still rules and regulations that he has to follow. I’m not expecting anything super drastic, but I’m more worried about the supporters.”

Rishi Sohi, freshman biomedical engineering major

“I wouldn’t say that I was shocked, but mainly I was shocked by the margin and how he won most of the swing states. Clearly everyone wanted to vote for him for a reason so maybe there’s more that I don’t know. I’m hoping it will lead to a bright future, but we’ll just have to see how it goes.”

Anghel De Las Casas, freshman computer science major

“I didn’t expect it. I woke up to the news this morning. I’m kind of optimistic about it. Maybe it’s not going to be that bad.”

Sijia Huang, applied mathematics graduate student

“I was a little bit surprised because I didn’t expect he would win. I noticed many Chinese Americans are voting for Trump. It makes me think they care that they are citizens, and they don’t want anyone else to become new citizens, so nobody will take their place. It’s a little bit disappointing.”