Chinook Drive turned into a mob scene after Barack Obama was announced as the next president of the United States Tuesday night. Approximately 300 celebrating students on South Campus bounced up and down, their hands held high as their fists pumped to the beat of Lil Wayne’s ‘A Milli.’

Students started to fill the front lawn of 320 Chinook around 11 p.m. Seeing the crowd, seniors Ashwin Kumar and StaiSean Lyew took out a spin-table and speakers from their apartment and began to play music.

‘We saw the cars and, well, it’s not a party without music, so we brought our stuff out,’ Kumar, biology major, said.

Kumar said once he started DJing, freshmen from Sky Halls, and students from the adjacent bus stops and surrounding apartments gravitated to the music.

The celebration lasted until eight Department of Public Safety officers came to move cars, which were blocking the street and preventing a South Campus bus from passing through, an officer on the scene said.

DPS asked the DJs to stop the music because of a noise violation at around 11:50 p.m. Officers then told the crowd – including members of the Syracuse University men’s basketball, football and women’s basketball teams – to leave the streets.

‘We’re cool with DPS,’ Kumar said. ‘They let us play for a good 20 minutes before stopping us.’

Fellow South Campus residents LisaMarie Barbosa and Melissa Rodrigues said they thought DPS could have let the students enjoy the gathering a little longer, rather than break it up.

‘No one expected it to be like this,’ said Barbosa, a senior education major. She said the number of students on Chinook reflected the growing political activism among college students.

Rodrigues and Barbosa live in apartments directly across from where the DJs set up. While some students raised concerns of loud noise, Rodrigues said, ‘the more noise, the better.’

‘When you see students of all races, hundreds of people dancing in the streets, it’s an intense event that you don’t see ever on this campus,’ said Rodrigues, a senior social work and Spanish major.

Even after the music stopped, the celebration continued. As cars were leaving, students played music and beeped horns while some ran through the streets, screaming, ‘Obama is our president.’

A life-size cutout of Obama was held out of a white Honda’s sunroof with two students riding on the trunk, their feet dangling as the car drove off.

The fact that there was no music didn’t stop people like freshman Jason Adams from dancing. Adams walked into the center of the street and break-danced, while the people who lined the street cheered.

‘I’m dancing because it’s a beautiful day,’ he said. ‘It’s a beautiful time for change in America. We are now looking at progress, and I am happy to be a part of it.’

Laquana Greenwood, senior child family studies major and South Campus resident, said she joined the street party after hearing the music from her apartment.

‘I voted for Barack Obama, and I was hoping he’d bring change and he has,’ Greenwood said.

Though one of her close friends voted for Sen. John McCain, Greenwood said Tuesday night’s celebration marked the change she was looking for when she went to the polls Tuesday morning.

Greenwood wasn’t the only student on Chinook who anticipated change. Seeing firsthand the results of the national election on campus, Rodrigues said SU students will act differently – not only after the election, but during the course of the next four years.

‘Monumentally, it meant something for the nation,’ she said. ‘And at the university, it meant an outlook change. You’re hugging people you’ve never seen a day in your life. It’s amazing.’

[email protected], [email protected]

Published on November 4, 2008 at 12:00 pm