by NextGen Journal

Everywhere

May 2, 2011

On Sunday night, President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan- and college students celebrated. Check out our compilation of reports from NGJ staffers across the country (UPDATED)

Penn State (Mike Oplinger)

Within a hour of the news breaking, thousands of Penn State students converged in an area downtown known as Beaver Canyon, which normally hosts riots after big football victories. The mood was much calmer and more celebratory Sunday night. Students draped themselves in the American flag and chanted patriotic phrases. Students then sang patriotic songs such as God Bless the USA, Born in the USA and the Star Spangled Banner. One student dressed as Captain America crowd-surfed down the street.  Police stood idly by as the celebration was mainly peaceful.  They only stepped in when students began setting off fireworks and starting small fires.

Yale (Alex Moffit)

May Day happened to hit at the most stressful time of the year for Yalies. With finals looming in a day for some, it came as no surprise all of campus was hidden away in the darkest corners of libraries and empty classrooms. But when the news broke that Osama bin Laden had met his maker, students had no choice but to drop econ notes, grab scissors, and cut the sleeves off of their favorite red and blue flannels. Yalies wore camo. They wore denim. They wore American flag button ups. They wore “America: Back-to-Back World War Champions” t-shirts. And for the rest of the night they would speak in nothing other than the deepest Louisville drawl you’d ever heard. The sound system fired up and Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” found itself on repeat. Eventually students congregated on the picturesque Old Campus green where the chanting of “Osaaaaaama Osaaaaama… Ayyyy Ayyy Ayyyyy… Goodbyeeeeee” could proudly be heard echoing far off into the night amidst the blaring of Freedom horns (vuvuzuelas) and sporadic shouts of “Amuricah!” Students sang their way through every possible American anthem. With a finale of “America the Beautiful” the crowd dispersed, some students wandering off in vain attempts to make last calls at local pubs. Others simply going back to their dorms to play “America,  F#$% Yeah!” one final time. America and Yale celebrated, and it was beautiful. #Red #White #andBlue

NYU (Images Courtesy of our friends at OMGWire.)

NYU students rallied at Times Square and Ground Zero along with thousands of other New Yorkers.

Notre Dame (Connor Toohill)

Hundreds of students gathered on the South Quad of campus- many were holding large flags, others were smoking cigars, and just about everyone was singing at the top of their lungs (and of course, chanting “USA! USA! USA!”). Over the course of an hour, this group of students ran through the LaFortune student center to the famous ‘Touchdown Jesus’ in front of the library, then back. At one point, a student stood up and told the crowd, ‘Ten years ago, that motherf*$%#r killed my dad”- he then thanked the crowd for joining him in celebration. All over campus, students were high-fiving and hugging each other- it was tough to walk outside without hearing a patriotic song belted at top volume.

Naval Academy (Anonymous Midshipman)

Shortly after news of Bin Laden’s death, an announcement came over Bancroft Hall (the single dorm building that houses all 4200 midshipmen) 1MC encouraging all midshipmen to view the President’s address in their respective common rooms. Soon word was passed from the Brigade Commander for all midshipmen to gather in Tecumseh Court outside Bancroft Hall. The crowd quickly began chanting “USA!” and singing the national anthem. What followed was a march around the Yard with stops at the Superintendent’s and Commandants quarters, as well as the main gate where students were climbing fences in jubilation. Both the Commandant and Superintendent rallied the Brigade from their doorsteps, and the crowd continued on to numerous landmarks around the Academy including the Herndon Monument, the statue of Tecumseh, and countless fountains. The Brigade, unfamiliar with such excitement, was eventually coaxed back inside by M4 Carbine wielding DoD police.

Watch:

West Point (Anonymous Cadet)

It was a typical Sunday evening at West Point- everyone crammed in doing last minute HW- when all of a sudden, people started screaming. A bunch of people in crazy patriotic costumes and underwear (and even some who were naked) were running around shouting.  On the loudspeakers, people were chanting ‘Osama’s dead’ accompanied by loud music- from Toby Keith songs to ‘We Are the Champions.’  It was clear by that point no one was going to get any work done that evening.  It was fun, though, to see USMA cadets actually party like they were in a civilian college for once. iIt was a good way to blow off steam before finals and graduation week.

Watch:

Stanford University (Clint Akarmann)

Fresh off a decision to finally allow ROTC on campus, Stanford University was once again thrown into a military-related hoopla.  Gone was the partisan rhetoric, however, and in was the patriotism.  The word of Osama bin Laden’s death spread swiftly throughout Stanford’s campus, through Facebook, Twitter, and dorm chat list messages urging people to head out to rallies with their American flags in tow.  The biggest rally took place in White Plaza, while one gathering took place right next to my dorm at a firepit.  At this more intimate gathering, people roasted s’mores, drank beer (mostly the American variety), and chanted “USA USA.”  Some were draped with the American flag while others wore oversized Uncle Sam hats.  Fireworks were set off, attracting the attention of the campus police who used a megaphone in an attempt to quiet the crowd down.  But their cause was united, and, as the last verses of The Star Spangled Banner rang through the night air, you could tell something extraordinary was going on.

George Mason University (Jordan Frasier)

At George Mason, students were outside yelling in celebration. Some were gathering together to carpool downtown into DC to join in the celebration at the White House. At one point someone had taken a stereo outside and was blasting loud music in celebration.

Harvard University (Nick Madden)

Kids on our campus went nuts. People were blowing horns and running all through the yard. Half of my contacts texted me within 5 minutes of the news. People (well over 200) were singing the national anthem and other patriotic songs for at least an hour and a half by the statue of John Harvard. I had a hard time getting to sleep even with two fans on full blast muffling the noise. 

Boston University (Max Hasan)

University of Missouri (Matt Hundley)

At Mizzou, students flocked to Greektown to take place in the celebrations.  Hundreds of students crowded on the streets, chanting and singing patriotic songs.  People shot fireworks with American flags waving in the air.  There was even a picture of Osama that students lit on fire.

Cont….(Nate Jacobson)

Thousands of students went to Greektown right after Obama’s speech. There were beer showers, community cigars and the smell of firecrackers in the air. It was a true party atmosphere. Former Missouri defensive end Aldon Smith, who was drafted seventh overall in Thursday’s NFL Draft, was in attendance.

Cont….(Dan Kelly)

Mizzou is going crazy.  Thousands of people were still celebrating late last night.  Everyone flocked to Greektown where they blocked off the street and there was havoc.  Everyone is very patriotic, singing all types of songs: the national anthem, God Bless the USA, and Springsteen’s Born in the USA.  There was crowd surfing, toilet paper being thrown on power lines, and champagne being sprayed all over. I think that it was the largest gathering on campus for one specific cause.

ASU Downtown Campus (Jack Fitzpatrick)

I’m sorry/ashamed to say the ASU Downtown campus is dead quiet right now. I checked the Walter Cronkite School’s First Amendment Forum, where this kind of thing usually happens, but the building was closed

Syracuse University (Marina Charny)

As strong as the reaction was on campus – I was in the library when I found out, in one of the super quiet rooms, and at one point people all just started discussing the news amongst themselves and completely forgot where they were – I was most impressed with the reaction across social media. Upon hearing the news, most people immediately took to Facebook and Twitter to post statuses and comments about it. By now, most of my friends have updated their Facebook with an Osama/Obama-related status and are hitting the bars to celebrate!

Tulane University (Jared Sichel)

Hundreds of students poured into a quad around dorms and began chanting “U.S.A.!” ROTC people and other guys took a big USA flag and walked across the quad with it spread out. People set off firecrackers and similar explosives. A big American flag was draped from the top floor of a dorm.

Ohio State (From Commenter Casey E.)

“You can’t not have Ohio State on this list..Mirror Lake was trending worldwide on Twitter last night! OSU students jumped in Mirror Lake (a tradition usually done only during Beat Michigan Week every late November), but they did it this year. Thousands of students jumped in!”

UCLA (Avni Nijhawan)

Students shouted “USA! USA! Go America!!” and blew loud horns around Westwood Village as soon as the news broke.

University of Iowa (Kirsten Jacobsen)

Amidst fireworks and hordes of college students rushing downtown to take part in the festivities, one sound rang out over the booms and chatter: “USA! USA!” Mere hours after President Obama’s jaw-dropping speech, even political apathetes were joining in the celebration; proud, for the first time in a long time, of American military and intelligence actions in the Middle East. While the coming weeks will undoubtedly be difficult for foreign policy makers and U.S. embassy workers overseas, at least for tonight we can overcome partisan differences and budgetary headaches to come together as “the American people.” (It will be interesting to see which Republican presidential candidates even hazard a run after the evening’s events.) From the University of Iowa to Washington, D.C., to the nation as a whole – this unprecedented effort to quell a radical regime should have us all shooting off fireworks and joining in the chant.

Georgetown University (Caitlin Gilbert)

I ran to the White House as soon as I heard the news. The run there from Georgetown was absolutely surreal. People were singing, running, chanting, and shouting. I have literally not experienced the kind of mass sense of community that I did tonight. Once I got to the White House with my friends, the unity was only stronger. I saw people crying, hugging, smoking weed, jumping, climbing lampposts and trees, and so much more.  I loved how many college students were there as well. If there’s one thing you can count on college kids doing, it’s gathering en masse and chanting like there’s no tomorrow.

SMU (Max Benassi)

At SMU students were gathered in the library studying for finals when the news broke. Students in the library took a break from their studying to read the news, watch streaming tv, and discuss the news from each other. Facebook status were soon changed to celebratory and patriotic statuses. Many people were in disbelief at first but after online news websites confirmed the story, people got really excited. This makes the school even more proud to be hosting the George W. Bush Presidential Library. A group of SMU students even traveled to George W. Bush’s house to celebrate:

SMU Cont… (Arnaud Zimmern)

The dorm I was in has two study lounges, on the 2nd floor and on the 3rd. The 3rd floor hosted an “America Party” with flags and Miley Cyrus music and smores. The 2nd floor discussed how awful it was that we were celebrating another human being’s death, regardless of the fact that it was a terrorist, and that his death didn’t change much in the long run since we couldn’t know if it was really him behind all of the attacks or if he was just a figure-head. An interesting disparity of opinions.

Rice University (Joey Capparella)

At my dorm, they blasted an “American Playlist” in the quad. People started opening up their windows and chanting “USA.”

University of Pennsylvania (Adrienne Edwards)

Our campus is fairly quiet tonight, because finals officially start tomorrow. Students gathered around TVs in various studying spaces to watch the address, and many were on Twitter and Facebook sharing their feelings about the news. There was no outdoors reaction- to my knowledge, at least.

Eds. Note: An update from commenter Grant Dubler, “Ok, Penn was a LITTLE more enthusiastic than this suggests: http://underthebutton.com/2011/05/obama-announcement-watching-in-marks-cafe/”

Marist College (Kaitlin Travers)

Most of the students on my campus posted Facebook and Twitter statuses stating how happy they were with the result of Osama bin Laden’s death. Over 90% of students from my college are from the tri-state area and were directly affected by 9/11, whether due to the close proximity to NYC or personal knowledge of a victim of the attacks.  I felt extreme emotion and pride as I heard that the man responsible for so much devastation was dead, but I felt disheartened by the amount of hateful messages I saw from my friends, calling for his body to be burned in Times Square, for the nation to spit on, etc.  Although we were all deeply affected by 9/11, the perpetuation of hate will continue with sentiments such as those I saw on Facebook.  In order to promote a true end to violence, terrorism, and fundamentalism, it is necessary for us to celebrate the end of a cruel murderer, but not call for more violence to continue.  I call for my fellow students to recognize this fact and rejoice in the events announced tonight, as it brings a sense of justice and peace to many families in the United States and around the world.

University of Wisconsin (Elise Swanson)

There were definitely some people chanting ‘USA’ when the news came out, but most people were more restrained. Everyone was watching the coverage, though, recognizing the importance of the event. In just a couple minutes, it’s all anyone was talking about, both in person and on Facebook.

University of Oregon (JoAnna Wendel)

I heard fireworks going off around my house, and my friend heard people chanting “USA! USA!” Other than that, it was pretty quiet.

Michigan State (Joel Reinstein)

At MSU, tonight was the Finals Week “midnight scream.” at midnight, people go outside and scream their heads off for a couple minutes. I heard a “USA! USA! USA!” chant. I overheard a conversation near a TV where the news was playing: “People are going to think that terrorism is over, now.” The gist seemed to be that Osama’s death would make us complacent.

MSU Cont… (Brit Dee)

Last night we did what our school calls the “midnight scream.” It is considered a stress reliever for everyone studying for their final exams. Usually it’s just a bunch of screaming, but last night everyone was chanting “USA” and some students lit off fire works as well.

Clemson University (Alex Urban)

At Clemson, a large American flag was drawn on the ground in chalk and there are American flags everywhere. While we realize the struggle against terrorism isn’t over; this is clearly a big win for our military. For a school that was once a military school like Clemson was until the early 50s, the pro-military stance on campus is always visible and students are clearly in support of our troops today more than ever before.

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