Historic election grips community
Holding onto one another—wrapping their arms around a moment that belonged to America, Chicago, and the University—hundreds of people filled Hutchinson Commons on Tuesday night to watch Barack Obama speak his first words as President-elect of the United States.
College students, graduate students, faculty, and staff, some with faces glistening with emotion, pressed forward. On a giant screen, they saw the future 44th president, the former Senior Lecturer in the Law School and the familiar face that they remembered from the barber shop.
They watched Michelle Obama, a vice president of the Medical Center and former head of the University Community Service Center, join him. They applauded as the Obama girls, Lab School students, took the stage.
And they saw the flag-waving crowds that surrounded the Obamas in Grant Park, several miles to the north—a throng liberally salted with members of the University of Chicago community who had managed to secure tickets, some through long service to the Obama campaign.
Joyous mood on campus
Both candidates in the 2008 presidential campaign drew ideas and vehement support from members of the University community.
But as the intensity of Tuesday’s speeches gave way to playful cheers of “Obama!” and music pumping across the quads, many sought to claim their link to this election’s historic outcome, whether it was a story about the Obamas or simply a mutual connection to place.
“We are proud that a family with close ties to the University will occupy the White House,” said President Robert J. Zimmer. “The Obamas have made lasting contributions to the University and to Chicago's South Side, and we are eager to offer our assistance as the President-elect begins to craft his policy agenda.”
Gil Jordan of the Reynolds Club staff said, “I have never seen such enthusiasm and energy on campus in the 20 years I’ve worked here.”
The mood carried to the Regenstein Library, where John Mark Hansen, Dean of the Social Sciences and Charles L. Hutchinson Distinguished Service Professor in Political Science, led students in a discussion of the election results; to a party of avid watchers at the Law School; and to countless dorm rooms and student lounges around campus.
Mostly it was jubilance. But there was also a gravity, a sense of all that had led to this moment. James McKinney, a second-year student in the College and an African American, said, “I just talked with family in Mississippi, and I hope my month-old niece there will grow up in a world where this kind of thing will not be such a monumental event.”
Like many, Tian Tian Cai, a third-year student in the College, worked hard on the Obama campaign, even though she is from China and cannot vote. “I hope Missouri [still undecided at that point] goes for Obama because I called many people there, asking them to vote for change,” she said.
Tracking the results
Students multi-tasked their way through the evening. Many kept one eye on a television screen while flipping through web sites that covered the election. A favorite was fivethirtyeight.com, the product of alumnus Nate Silver, which aggregates polls and surveys using techniques developed for analyzing baseball statistics.
“I’ve been addicted for quite a while,” said Jeremy Brightbill, a first-year PhD student in the Classics, “and took great comfort in knowing that before the polls opened, they gave Barack a 98.9 percent chance of winning.”
Lucia Pattuloo, a second-year student in the College, was quadra-tasking: watching a television, checking the New York Times website, eating a Greek salad, and working on chemistry homework. “I had a paper due at midnight in neuroscience, but, fortunately the professor extended the deadline because of the election,” she said.
Many faculty members had a stake in the election, and some found themselves besieged in recent months and days by reporters who were looking for first-hand recollections of the President-elect.
“What I remember most about him is that he was an excellent listener,” said Douglas Baird, the Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law, and the Dean of the Law School who recruited Barack Obama as a Senior Lecturer. “It’s nice to have someone in the White House who is going to listen and think critically.”
“It’s very exciting to have somebody from the University of Chicago, from the University of Chicago Law School, become president of the United States,” said Dennis J. Hutchinson, Senior Lecturer in Law and the William Rainey Harper Professor in the College. “We talk so much about public policy issues, about how law can affect real people and real life. And to have someone who has been here for years, arguing with us, teaching with us, now having the responsibility to make something happen—it’s quite remarkable.”
Looking to the future
While most who followed the election closely declined to speculate on names, the prospect of a fast-moving transition from election to administration had many thinking about new links that might be forged between the University and the President-elect.
Even those who watched their electoral hopes plummet Tuesday seemed ready to look forward. Joseph “Tex” Dozier, a third-year student in the College and director of campus operations for College Republicans, said, “It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine. I’ll be upset tonight, but I’ll be over my grieving by morning.”
And with a note of gracious acceptance that Sen. John McCain would echo a few minutes later, Dozier acknowledged that he, too, would have a job to do on Wednesday: “I respect the people’s vote. I promised [my roommate] I’d put up an Obama poster if he won.”
By Steve Kloehn and Greg Borzo
