President-elect Joe Biden speaks at Truckee Meadows Community College on Oct. 2, 2020. On Saturday, Nov. 7, Biden was projected to win the United States presidency.

Two weeks after a violent mob stormed into the U.S. Capitol Building, Joseph Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States and Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first female vice president.

Harris is also the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to become vice president of the United States. 

She and Biden were sworn in at an inauguration ceremony unlike any before on Wed., Jan. 20.

Instead of the typical inauguration crowds well into the hundreds of thousands, the ceremony was attended by lawmakers, past presidents and celebrities. 

National Mall, usually swarmed with attendees trying to get a chance to see the new president, was instead filled with close to 200,000 flags representing those thousands unable to attend due to COVID-19 concerns. National Guard troops numbering at 25,000 were present in Washington, providing extra security. 

The heightened security comes after hundreds of pro-Trump rioters stormed past Capitol Police into the Capitol Buidling while lawmakers were certifying the results of the Electoral College inside on Wed., Jan. 6. 

In a message to staff and students, University of Nevada, Reno President Brian Sandoval said he was “shocked and saddened” by the events at the Capitol. 

“It is in this spirit of democracy that we will never tolerate what transpired yesterday in Washington, D.C., as our elected leaders gathered to consummate a time-honored electoral tradition that signals to our citizens and the world that we are a nation of laws and that power is always transferred peacefully,” Sandoval said in the Jan. 7 email.

Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Melody Rose also issued a statement on the violence.

“As a public higher education system, we must continue to make space for the robust deliberation of facts and the conveyance of truth. Education, not violence, remains the pathway to real and lasting change and the continued pursuit of American ideals,” Rose shared in the statement on Jan. 7. 

A Google document entitled “Open Letter From Political Scientists” was created on Jan. 6 and garnered hundreds of names, including UNR political science professors Christina Ladam and Robert L. Ostergard, Jr. The letter called on Congress and former Vice President Mike Pence to remove former President Donald Trump from office, which began on Jan. 6. 

Taylor Avery can be reached at tavery@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @travery98.