Some may remember family members talking about how America was drawn together after the lunar landing or the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dean of Students Dione Somerville said the election of the nation’s first black president, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was a similar event.

“I really believe that we witnessed something of that kind of proportion last night,” Somerville said. “I hope it’s not too far in the future, but much sooner than that, we can all recognize that this is going to be one of those events that will forever bind us together.”

Somerville said she was amazed as she watched the election of Obama Tuesday night, something that she never thought she would see in her life time.

Vinecia Coleman, sophomore in microbiology, is an black student who said Obama’s election sends a positive message to people of color who want to make a difference.

“Our parents have always said ‘you can do anything you want to do,’ and it’s hard to believe that when there’s nobody who looks like you doing great things,” Coleman said. “Now I can tell my kids they can do whatever they want to do.”

Somerville said she has seen our country come a long way since Jesse Jackson ran for president in 1984. She said it was amazing to see how quickly it was determined that Jackson was not a credible candidate.

She said even though Americans elected a black person to the presidency, it is important that people don’t overlook the prejudices that still exist in this country.

“I do believe that a lot of times, people don’t recognize that there still are issues of race, of class, of socioeconomic status, of gender, sexual orientation. All of those things are still very real in our society,” Somerville said.

She also said this election was an important one because of its lack of controversy compared to elections in the past — when votes had to be recounted and the Supreme Court had to intervene to reach a decision. She said many Americans became disenchanted with American politics after the confusion in 2000, but she thinks this election may help to redeem the bad reputation of the electoral process.

“To me, it was wonderful to see our students participate in that process,” Somerville said. “But also I hope this helps to invigorate others who have been absent from these processes in the United States.”

This election was not only important to Americans, Somerville said, but to people around the world as well. She said she was moved as she watched news footage of people celebrating in Paris, Kenya and Australia.

“My goodness, when was the last time a presidential election did that?” Somerville said. “I think we sometimes forget the impact that the United States has on the rest of the world.”

Though there is a lot of hope for the nation’s future, Coleman said she doesn’t think America’s current problems will be easy for Obama to fix.

“I think he’s inherited a mess, but I think that he’s going to do what he can for the next, maybe, eight years he’ll be in office,” Coleman said.