Binghamton University students, faculty and local residents gathered last week across the city of Binghamton and the nation’s capital to watch the inauguration of our 44th president.
Steve Duarte, director of tutorial services for BU’s Center of Academic Excellence, said he watched the inauguration in the College-In-the-Woods Library with his co-workers.
Duarte said the number of people who turned out for the inauguration, as well as their joyful attitude, reminded him of 1963 and marches done by Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday was celebrated the day before Barack Obama’s inauguration.
“It was very moving, almost thrilling to see so many people gathered for the right reasons,” Duarte said.
Duarte called the turnout for the inauguration, as well as the day’s events, inspiring.
Duarte wasn’t the only University community member who expressed hope for Obama’s administration.
BU President Lois DeFleur said she thought President Obama’s election and inauguration represented a change in direction for the United States.
“He has been particularly successful in drawing a wider range of people together,” DeFleur said. “In these challenging times, we need inspirational leadership and I believe President Obama is such a leader.”
BU students also participated in an academic seminar in Washington, D.C. during the week leading up to the inauguration.
Dylan Wiley, a senior political science major, participated in a presidential inauguration seminar run by the Washington Center in the District of Columbia. Wiley said he was nominated for the seminar by one of his professors.
According to the seminar’s Web site, the 10-day academic program focused on the newly elected president and the role of the media in politics. Wiley said the program stressed what goes into the president’s job and the institutions that affect it.
Wiley was also able to view the inauguration from one of the upper terraces at the event, he said.
“I got to watch it [the ceremony] from like up above which was really cool,” Wiley said. “You could see how many people were actually there, and there were a lot of people.”
Wiley said there were so many people present for the inauguration that it was almost impossible to walk on the streets.
“You can barely even move,” he said.
The overcrowding didn’t thwart the audience’s enthusiasm, according to political science professor David Clark, who drove to Washington, D.C. with his family to celebrate the event.
“It didn’t feel like a political event,” he said.
The crowd, which added up to 1.8 million, “was a really friendly crowd, everyone was cheerful,” Clark said. “Everyone was talkative, excited and happy about the prospects for the future.”
Clark said everyone there seemed to watch out for each others’ children, since the number of people around the capital was overwhelming. He said he had never seen or felt so much optimism from such a large crowd before.
According to University spokeswoman Gail Glover, approximately 175 to 200 people gathered in BU’s Lecture Hall 1 for a screening of the event. The University’s annual forum, which discussed the state of the University, was held in the room right before the presidential ceremony began. Roughly 25 to 30 people also attended a screening at Binghamton’s City Hall, said city spokesman Andrew Block.
Block said there was an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation at the screening. Mayor Matt Ryan was also hopeful about and pleased with the new president’s administration, he added.
Clark said he and his family viewed the ceremony from the ground, near the Washington monument.
“We watched the inauguration on a TV, but we had a good view of the White House,” he said. “We could see the moving trucks.”
Clark’s only complaint about the day was the weather.
“It was brutally cold,” he said.