The Phillipian

Andover/Exeter may be tomorrow, but students cheered about a different blue and red on Tuesday night.

Students watched networks call states for Barack Obama and John McCain as the presidential election came to a close on Election night.

The evening was filled with countdowns for closing polls, cheers at each declared state and buzzing discussion.

By the time CNN announced Obama’s win, students had returned to their dorms. Sheya Jabouin ’11 said that she and her friends “ran around the dorm screaming. I shed a couple of tears…When I saw Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey crying I broke down, and I had to contain myself. I’m just really excited; it’s all I can think about.”

Andrew Townson ’10 said, “I’m not mad that Obama won because I think that he’ll be a good president. I’m mad about how prejudiced the news channels were last night.”

Townson continued, “Saying [the Democrats] swept the election is unfair because they only won 52 percent of the popular vote. That means 48 percent of the country does not want [Obama] to be president.”

However, the cheers were notably louder in Kemper when a state was called to Obama.

During the viewing, Sadiqa Farrow ’09 said, “A lot of people seem to be for Obama; people for McCain will probably be upset.”

Erica Harris ’09, President of Democrats Club, and Jake Romanow ’10, Vice-President of Democrats Club, co-hosted the Kemper viewing.

During the campaign, they sponsored a debate and organized a group of students to go to an Obama rally.

Following the election results, Sam Dodge ’09, the CoPresident of PA Republicans, planned a mourning party at Bishop Hall, his dorm.

Leading up to the election, Dodge said that club members discussed the issues, put posters up around campus and held an open forum.

Both Democrats and Republicans also showed support for their candidates throughout the campaign with various Facebook groups, flyers in UnCommons, stickers and t-shirts.

Townson said, “I gave [McCain t-shirts] to a few kids. We even made our own hand signal. Whenever we wore them though, people gave us dirty looks.”

Alana Rush, Assistant Director of Community Service, helped coordinate the election activities on campus by unifying the different groups’ events.

She also organized the voting registration process for eligible students.

“There are about 100 students that are over eighteen as of [election day], so I’ve been in contact with them to help them register and know how to vote,” she said.

David Stern, Instructor in Chemistry, said that the last election was very different from this year’s.

“There was some excitement about the [last] election. I think we believed that Kerry would win the election. There was disappointment, anxiety and sorrow for where we could have gone as a country,” he said.

“This election was a breath of fresh air for the country and the world,” continued Stern. “There was more excitement and enthusiasm this year going in, and I know a lot of the faculty at least feel that we’re sort of redeemed.”

The Philomathean Society held a post-election forum the morning after Election Day.

Most present were pleased with Obama’s win.

Tiffany Li ’09 said, “I did feel like for the Obama campaign there is more of a feeling of sincerity. He’s been saying the same thing all along.”

Many students agreed that although most newspaper headlines revolved around the concept of the first black president, Obama’s race was a superficial issue.

Carlos Hoyt, Associate Dean of Students attended the forum. “This morning I came away very impressed with the students’ ability to [discuss] the election,” Hoyt said.

He is not worried about the school’s reaction to Obama. “We’re now in an adjustment period. The campus is going to be who we are; there’s no tumult coming out of [the election],” said Hoyt.

“I feel that we’re okay to good because the outcome of the election aligns with the hopes of most people on campus. I think regarding Obama, the philosophy and the platform he ran on match up with the kind of community we want to be,” Hoyt said.

Daniel Glassberg ’09, the president of the Independent Club, offered words of advice to the campus.

“Whether people supported Obama or not in the election doesn’t matter now because he’s our next president. We all have to work together to support him for the best of the country,” said Glassberg.