Students gathered in the Higgins Lounge on Wednesday, February 26, to attend a presentation and discussion facilitated by political science professor Cyril Ghosh. The topic of the discussion? Whether or not the United States currently finds itself in a constitutional crisis.

The forum opened with International Students & Scholars Office Assistant Director Nathan Cruz addressing concerns students have voiced about the safety of international students, including immigrant and undocumented students. Cruz highlighted the “red cards” distributed around campus, which detail the general rights of people when interacting with immigration officials such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Despite the name of the event, keynote speaker Prof. Ghosh made it clear he was not intending to give a firm answer on whether or not the United States currently finds itself in a constitutional crisis — and that there is no ‘official’ definition of a “constitutional crisis.” However, it is generally accepted that a constitutional crisis refers to when a given constitution has broken down and does not offer a means of resolving disputes within a government.

Prof. Ghosh’s presentation focused on reviewing current scholarship on the matter and analyzing the legality of the Trump administration’s various contested executive orders. The forum concluded with a question and answer session; questions ranged from the constitutionality of Elon Musk’s role in the U.S. government to Trump’s true intentions in office.

Although a less-than-uplifting topic, the forum was able to wind down with a hopeful tone; in response to a question about what to do should a country find itself in a constitutional crisis, Prof. Ghosh advised on individual mobilizing, saying, “You should not let yourself get so overwhelmed that you’re on the verge of a breakdown — you should be like, “Okay, I can’t do everything, but I can do one thing.” And do that thing. Do that thing like your life depends on it.”