University of Tennessee students got their first opportunity to experience what the Howard Baker Center has to offer them on campus Tuesday night. The Baker Center held an election party during the evening, giving students a chance to witness history in the making.

The Baker Center opened to the public Oct. 31. A group of students decided to do an election return party at the center to help get students involved in the electoral process.

While center coordinator Gavin Luter had expected between 75 and 100 students in attendance, some were surprised by the turnout.

"It just opened last Friday, so I didn't expect there to be so many people," said Treston Wheat, sophomore in political science.

During the evening the students watched live election coverage in the Toyota Auditorium, and whenever results would come in you could hear cheers from the crowd.

From the beginning we said we want to be a useful resource for this campus and the students here
Alan Lowe, director at the Howard Baker Center for Public Policy

There were supporters of each political party at the event, but it became obvious which direction the election was headed early into the evening, when Pennsylvania and Ohio were projected for democratic candidate Barack Obama.

What unified the students was a love for politics.

"Even though I don't want Obama to win, I'm glad that he came to politics and livened our generation, which was pretty much dead to politics," Wheat said.

Many of the students in attendance were impressed with the Baker Center. Elizabeth Hood, sophomore in history said, it was "gorgeous."

According to Cara Rains, sophomore in political science, the party was her first stop for the evening "mostly because of the Baker Center."

The students were confined to the auditorium during the evening, but director Alan Lowe said that the Baker Center has much to offer during operating hours, including archives for political research and a museum for students to learn about the electoral process.

"From the beginning we said we want to be a useful resource for this campus and the students here, and now that we got the building we can do it even more than we've been doing in the past," said Lowe.