Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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Students celebrate on BIN LADEN
From Page 1A
camll s Siriay'iigtt before thousands of people flooded
the area.
Music and chants problems associated with the war "It was amazing watching
on terrorism, but will hopefully be the crowd grow," Pojidaev said.
erupt after news of a sign of good things to come for "It's always great to see the coun-
the nation. try come together because we're
bin Laden's death "Everybody's celebrating like always so divided on so many
it's the end, but most of us know it's issues, and it's times like these that
By BETHANY BIRON not the end," McDowell said. "But make you proud to be an Ameri-
Editor in Chief hopefully it's the beginning of the can."
end of an era." The students described the
Afterhearingnews ofOsamabin LSA senior Simin Manole scene as a sea of red, white and
Laden's death, students on campus and Public Policy senior Mat- blue. Ribon said the crowd con-
took to the streets donned in red, thew Mejia stood on the corner of sisted mostly of college-aged stu-
white and blue and waving Ameri- Church Street and South Univer- dents, many of whom were taking
can flags while yelling out in cel- sity Avenue outside of Good Time pictures and climbing poles to hang
ebration last night. Charley's Bar and Grill around American flags.
The death of the leader of the 12:30 a.m. Monday waving a flag in While celebrants shouted
Sept. 11 attacks was cause to rejoice the air and chanting. "USA" in chants of jubilation and
led rounds of the national anthem,
Zelby said she and some of the Uni-
versity students sang "Hail to the
Victors."
Business junior Andrew Eisb-
rouch was part of a group who ran
to the White House after the presi-
dent finished his speech.
"We were lucky enough to be
in D.C. this week," Eisbrouch said.
"(We) saw what was going on and
figured we better take this oppor-
tunity because it will definitely be a
historical moment we will remem-
ber for the rest of our lives."
Eisbrouch, who arrived in
Washington D.C. Sunday morning
for the Carson Scholars program,
said he's grateful he was in the capi-
tal when the news broke and got to
witness the reaction of people on
the streets.
"It's like a national high for
everybody just being in the city
right now," he said.
Obama announced in a tele-
vised statement last night that bin
Laden was killed in a compound in
Pakistan. According to The Associ-
ated Press, the al-Qaida leader was
shot in the head in a firefight start-
ed by a Navy SEAL team and mili-
tary counter-terrorism unit.
No Americans or civilians were
injured, but three adult males -
including one of bin Laden's sons -
were killed in the attack. The U.S. is
now in custody of bin Laden's body.
Ribon said bin Laden's death
is a "big accomplishment" for the
United States and that she hope's it
will have a positive impact on the
country.
-The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
V
i
'r
for many University students, who
believe bin Laden's passing will
serve as a way to unite the United
States and move the nation closer to
ending the war on terrorism. Presi-
dent Barack Obama announced in a
televised address last night that bin
Laden was killed in Pakistan early
Monday by American troops.
Business and LSA senior Steve
Benavides said he was watching
baseball with his roommates when
they heard the news. The group
immediately started playing the
national anthem on their comput-
ers, while they heard fireworks
exploding in the distance.
Benavides said bin Laden's
death provides a sense of closure
for Americans and serves as a way
to unite the American people amid
a tense political climate.
"This is a highly politicized
time whether you're a Republican
or Democrat, but this one event is
something that 300 million Ameri-
cans can get behind, 300 million
Americans can take solace in and
300 million Americans can rejoice
over," Benavides said.
He added that bin Laden's
death is a "highly symbolic event"
not only for Americans and those
directly impacted by the Sept. it
terrorist attacks, but also for peo-
ple in other parts of the world who
have been affected by the reign of
terror established under al-Qaida.
"It's not just Americans cel-
ebrating tonight, it's a worldwide
thing," Benavides said. "He's just
been a threat to mankind, to Chris-
tianity, Judaism, Muslim and other
religions as a whole."
Will McDowell, a Business stu-
dent who graduated in Saturday's
Spring Commencement ceremony,
said he doesn't believe bin Laden's
death will ultimately solve the
Mejia said the announcement
of bin Laden's death will serve as
a catalyst for a positive advance-
ment in American morale and will
become an event that transcends
the increasing disparities in parti-
san sentiment.
"I think it's a bigday," Mejia said.
"Obviously things aren't over, but
it's important to take this day and
celebrate this accomplishment. It's
good for morale - it's an American
thing, it's not Democrat or Republi-
can, so that's a nice refresher right
now.
He added: "I'm proud to be an
American today, and it's not always
easy to say that, but today it is."
As the pair celebrated, a stu-
dent on the street opened a bottle
of champagne and sprayed it in the
air while cars drove past with pas-
sengers chanting "USA" and blast-
ing songs like "Born in the USA" by
Bruce Springsteen. Other confused
passersby questionedthe duo about
the flurry of activity.
Christopher Zukowski, an
employee of Ashley's Restaurant on
State Street, said he turned all the
televisions to the president's news
conference and raised the volume
after a customer asked to hear the
news.
"Once people realized what was
happening, everyone got quiet and
listened," he said.
Zukowski, an Ann Arbor resi-
dent, said the only time a moment
like this happened in the past three
years was the night Obama was
elected in 2008.
Though Ashley's closes at mid-
night, the bar extended its closing
time by a half hour since the major-
ity of patrons were still in the bar.
- Editor in Chief Stephanie
Steinberg contributed to this report.
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Karl Deisseroth Stanford University
Barry Dickson Institute of Molecular Pathology,
Vienna, Austria
Rachel Wong University of Washington
Carl Craver Washington University, St. Louis