On the New Student Politics

On the morning of November 3, 2004, the city of New Haven, Connecticut, looked like a town in mourning. Wards 1 and 2, which include all of Yale University's on-campus housing, had voted overwhelmingly in favor of John Kerry for president. Much of the rest of the country had not. Except for the occasional, exultant Bush supporter, the pedestrians on the campus or the nearby streets stared intently at their feet, avoiding not just conversation but eye contact. Every now and then, I saw a young man or woman slouched in a corner, sobbing.