Sixteen years ago Professor Toby Citrin and his then-13-year-old daughter Ana attended the Clinton presidential inauguration, where they and a diverse crowd shared a spirit of hope and excitement for the future. Citrin returned to the nation’s capital last weekend to watch from the National Mall as Barack Obama is sworn into office Jan. 20 as the country’s 44th president.
|
“I want to be a part of this grand moment in American history,” says Citrin, director, Center for Public Health and Community Genomics in the School of Public Health.
Citrin isn’t alone in his desire to witness history. Many faculty, staff and students will travel to Washington, D.C., by bus, car, train and plane to attend inaugural events, such as concerts, balls and a parade.
In published reports, Washington, D.C., officials estimate 1.5 million-2 million people will attend the inauguration.
“There’s a lot of excitement in the capital,” says Michael Waring, director of U-M’s Washington, D.C., Office and executive director of federal relations. “If predictions come true, we could see record crowds for the swearing-in and parade.”
Inaugural activities give U-M additional visibility and opportunities to network with organizations on issues and policies, says Cynthia Wilbanks, vice president for government relations.
Some students began planning their trip months before the Nov. 4 election to secure buses and lodging accommodations.
Laura Johnson, a hall director at East Quad, will accompany 50 students from seven campus dormitories by bus to the inauguration. To get seats, students wrote essays about how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. influenced them and the impact of Obama’s presidency.
“We wanted students interested in the historic significance of the inauguration rather than just going to hang out with friends,” says Johnson, adding the group will visit historical sites and feed the homeless during a community service project.
Citrin traveled with three friends with U-M ties — and all of them worked on the Obama campaign.
“The activities and events in which we’ll participate have gotten so manifold that we set up a Google calendar to keep track of them,” he says.
They plan to watch from bleacher seats —available only to 5,000 people who bought tickets online — when the new president and vice president are escorted from the Capitol to the White House during a 1.7-mile parade.
Many in the University community will view the inauguration on televisions in residence halls, classrooms and other campus locations. Alisse Portnoy, associate professor of English, will discuss the inaugural speech with her language and rhetoric class of 30 students.
“It’s terrific to have an opportunity to explore the ways that Obama actually works and sets things in motion … by, quite simply, talking for a few minutes,” she says. “It’s rare and wonderful that we can discuss how and why that happens as it happens.”
The Association of Black Social Work Students will host a “viewing party” with food, trivia games and policy discussions at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in the School of Social Work‘s Educational Conference Center.
“Most students may not have a chance to go to D.C., so we came up with a Plan B,” ABSWS President Edmund Lewis Jr. says.
