On Tuesday, Nov. 5, after thousands of Wesleyan students had cast their mail-in ballots during the weeks prior and more voted in-person over the course of the day, multiple events were held for students to gather and watch the United States presidential election.
At 4:30 p.m., dozens of students—along with several faculty and staff members, including President Michael Roth ’78—met at Huss Lawn to dance out their election stress and come together as a community. Some students saw this as a way to relieve tension heading into the anxious night.
“I think it’s unique because it’s really focused around joy and having fun,” attendee Lilia Yorkhall ’28 said. “A lot of people are feeling pretty anxious today or just in anticipation of not knowing what’s gonna happen in the future. And so I like how this just has a lighter tone.”
Faculty members found joining in dance helpful for community members before the night kicked off.
“First, it’s about community, and it’s about acknowledging that, no matter who you are, you can join in on a dance like this, and we’re all in it together,” Associate Professor of the Practice in the Allbritton Center Amy Grillo said. “And we can be there for each other no matter what, which makes it very Wesleyan.”
As the dance events winded down and election coverage began, two concurrent watch parties opened their doors to students. At the Frank Center for Public Affairs (PAC), the Government Department hosted a viewing party attended by students and faculty alike. Three broadcasts of election coverage were available: ABC News in the PAC Forum, PBS in PAC 100, and FOX News in PAC 101. Despite the options, most students congregated in the forum with their peers, where Jenga, puzzles, refreshments, and pizza were offered. Although there was palpable tension in the room, exacerbated by each new projection that the broadcast showed, students were thankful to be in each other’s company over the course of the night.
“I was kind of stressing about the election in my room, so I thought, it’s probably better to come here with a lot of people who are also really curious about it,” Jordan Frederick ’26 said.
While many students played games, did their homework, or kept their eyes on the PAC broadcasts, others pulled up projections from other sources to get the latest information on the tally.
“I’ve got my eye on around 12 different sources, Wall Street Journal, ABC, New York Times, Washington Post, keeping my finger on the pulse of sort of election Twitter, generally trying to get a sense of how people are feeling,” government major Alex Kaplan ’25, who helped coordinate the viewing party and held court in the center of the forum, said. “I’m watching how things are shaking out, while at the same time answering folks’ questions around here, because there are a lot of folks here who aren’t government majors and haven’t been as keyed in, and they have questions.”
While the Government Department event was being held at the PAC, Wesleyan for Harris was hosting their own watch party at Tishler Lecture Hall in Exley Science Center. The event was held about 10 days after the group traveled to Pennsylvania to canvass voters.
“We decided to plan a watch party organizationally because we knew that we wanted to be together at this moment, win or lose,” Wesleyan for Harris member Luca D’Agruma ’27 wrote in a message to The Argus. “We knew we had to honor the hard work we’d put in up until this moment, and wanted to consciously make a space on campus where people felt safe and in solidarity.”
In addition to watching the MSNBC coverage of the election, students phone banked states where polls closed later in the night.
“Throughout much of the night, dozens of people were making calls into swing states,” D’Agruma wrote. “I was so grateful for everyone who came and took action with us. As the night grew long, it became clear to us in the room that what we had feared had occurred and we weren’t going to make it across the finish line. Despite that, people left it all on the field, making calls well after polls had closed on the East Coast.”
As the events wrapped up, students were grateful to have experienced the historic night together with their peers.
“Tuesday night’s event was the perfect culmination of months of work because it brought us together,” Daniele Lerner ’27, who attended the Wesleyan for Harris event, wrote in a message to The Argus. “No matter whether it’s happy or sad news, we’re going to remember Tuesday night for the rest of our lives, and we wanted it to remember it as an evening where we could enjoy each other’s company.”
Miles Craven contributed reporting and can be reached at mcraven@wesleyan.edu.
Spencer Landers can be reached at sklanders@wesleyan.edu.
Max Forstein can be reached at mforstein@wesleyan.edu.