You know something unusual is happening on campus when there’s a Ben & Jerry’s truck parked outside O’Hare Hall at 8 O’Clock at night. Fordham students gathered in O’Keefe Commons on election night to watch the returns come in on two huge projection television screens, fueled by catered sandwiches, salads and fruit, and a cup of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for every attendee.
More than 100 students attended the watch party, and from 7 p.m. to almost midnight the room was abuzz with conversation, punctuated by shouts of glee (and a few groans of despair) as CNN and Fox News started calling states for the candidates. A number of students were interviewed and photographed by the Daily News and News 12 The Bronx, who were on hand to get reactions live as the results came in.
College Democrats were unsurprisingly jubilant when CNN projected Senator Barack Obama as the winner shortly after 11 p.m. Some students watching the returns on the Fox network were more subdued. The only strongly negative reaction students had was to the CNN hologram interview with rapper will.i.am—at issue wasn’t what he had to say to Anderson Cooper: students apparently thought the hologram experiment was pretty cheesy.
The event was sponsored by the Dean of Students, Residential Life, Office of Student Leadership and Community Development, the Alcohol and Other Drug Education Program, USG, RHA, CSA, College Democrats, Young Republicans, Community Service, Peer Educators, American Age and The Ram. The watch party was similar in format, and drew about the same number of students, as previous election year events sponsored by the same groups, including viewings of the first presidential debate in September, and the vice presidential and presidential debates in October.
