Under the orange glow of the lights on Bruin Walk, students filled the campus with noise from their drums and cheers, and buzzed with anticipation of the results of the undergraduate student government elections.
Arriving more than an hour before the 11:30 p.m. announcement by the Elections Board, supporters gathered at Meyerhoff Park, some in green and some in blue shirts, to represent their slates, and observers stood on the roof of Kerckhoff Hall to observe the scene.
Students First! supporters piled onto the steps leading to Kerckhoff Hall, bringing noisemakers including horns, large water bottles and drums to bang on, and passing around boxes of pizza.
But as the results of the election were announced, the chants and cheers came to a halt from the Students First! crowd while Bruins United supporters jumped up and down as each victory for the slate was announced by the Elections Board.
As the names of the winners were announced over the microphone, friends hugged one another and lifted up the winners in celebration.
But before the results were announced, presidential candidates from both slates thanked their supporters for their efforts during the campaign.
“No matter what happens in the next 20 to 25 minutes, we already won,” said Greg Cendana, outgoing internal vice president and defeated presidential candidate.
President-elect Gabe Rose, of Bruins United, told his supporters that he was “so fucking proud” of them and encouraged them to be proud of themselves.
Though the Students First! crowd was double the size of its opposing slate, Bruins United, the smaller group also cheered with their own phrases such as “Get excited, we’re Bruins United” and did 8-claps.
Joline Price, the Bruins United campaign manager and current general representative, said despite the differences between the groups, the atmosphere was “very similar” to last year’s announcement, when only one member of the slate was elected that night.
Some confusion emerged during the announcement for general representative, when the crowds prematurely cheered for candidates who were actually eliminated from the contest because of the single transferable voting system.
The only confrontation that occurred after the results were announced was between Students First! supporters and defeated independent presidential candidate Dave Valk, who entered the circle Students First! had formed and became involved in minor physical altercations with some students. University police later briefly apprehended Valk before letting him go.