Brown and White Vol. 116 No. 18

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 116 no 18 friday november 7 2008 all the lehigh news first obama wins election and state by chris knight the illinois senator took pennsylvania then the country bringing an end to a long campaign students waited up to three hours through light rain and slow lines to cast votes on election day at lehigh's primary voting location some skipping class to vote by 11 p.m the election was called for sen barack obama after he took important swing states pennsylvania included to the sound of cheering in the streets of south side bethlehem by students and locals the youth vote helped obama win pennsylvania which voted by a 30-point margin in his favor for many lehigh students however casting the vote wasn't easy the litzenberger house at 225 e 4th st where most le high students registered at campus and off campus locations are required to vote had lines winding out the door and through the lawn all day long when polls opened at 7 a.m about 40 people were already in line to vote from that point on wait times increased to its height at about 5 p.m when voters at the location reported more than two hours of waiting time keeping them in line was a strong desire to vote and cam paign volunteers mostly supporting obama who handed out bottled water sandwiches pizza pretzels and ponchos b&w photo by ryan ruggiero president-elect barack obama speaks last month to supporters at a philadelphia rally on tuesday the senator became the first black person to win the american presidency obama campaigned for almost two years taking on republican opponent sen john mccain of arizona for the presidency students reaction mixed to an obama presidency by elaine hardenstine for months they have can vassed brought in speakers and celebrities attended rallies regis tered voters and plastered posters and chalk across bethlehem to support their candidate they were the supporters of sen barack obama and sen john mccain who have racked up thousands of hours volunteer ing for their respective candidates and on monday night they got their answer a resounding vic tory for obama who won a large number of swing states it's a good feeling knowing you helped in deciding the next leader in the country said jack cherewatti 09 the youth vote in pennsylva nia helped sen barack obama carry the state and his bid to the presidency according to exit poll data 65 percent of voters aged 18 to 29 voted for obama in pennsylvania they say every vote counts christian marrone 10 said tues day after voting and maybe my vote alone doesn't make a differ ence but all these students com ing out really counts although neither student republicans nor democrats said b&wphoto by chris knight they were surprised obama won the election they responded in varying ways to the finale of the historic campaign it's been an incredible experi ence said alex kadis 10 of students for barack obama i woke up wednesday morning and couldn't believe he had won stephanie palmieri a graduate student joined in obama's vic tory excitement i think it's awesome she said i think he brings a really hopeful spirit and right now that's what our country needs lehigh students wait in long lines tuesday at the primary polling location for the university grad school interest up as economy slims down by matt stayman â–  professor says enter ing job market during a recession often nets a lower income a scant few months ago a number of lehigh students were planning what to do with the big bucks they would soon be earning on wall street benz or the lexus rolex or breitling now with the financial cri sis in full swing many of these students are faced with a much more serious choice take a considerably lighter paycheck or don't get a job at all while many settle for a less glamorous job is some students are entering graduate school instead martin saffer associate dean of graduate programs for the college of business and economics said the economic downturn may spark interest in lehigh's graduate programs it's very early in the appli cation progress but there has been an increase in inquiries about the program saffer said interest has increased in the four master of science degrees offered by the cbe he said those programs allow students to apply immediately after un dergraduate study unlike the master of business administra tion programs which require a minimum two years of work experience business students wanting to apply to graduate school after completing undergraduate study they should generally stick to master of science pro grams said donna goldfeder director of career services for most mba programs if they accept students right out of college they're probably not the best program out there most require two to three years of work experience gold feder said matt freiman 09 is ap plying to lehigh's master of science program in analytical finance hopefully when i'm fin ished with it we'll be out of this economic situation he said see obama page 2 see reactions page 2 see grad page 5 rah rah wrestlers prepare check online for ready to cheer k for first match breaking news page 7 page 16 www.thebrownandwhite.com