Some students and faculty waited in line outside the Michigan Union Ticket Office for 14 hours. Photo by Marissa McClain.

Thousands of students wrapped in sleeping bags, Snuggies and puffy winter parkas camped outside in 30-degree weather last night as they waited to get a ticket to see President Barack Obama speak at the University of Michigan tomorrow.

Obama is expected to give a speech concerning college of affordability and workforce training at Al Glick Field House, the indoor practice field for the U-M football team, at 9:35 a.m.

The visit is one of several talks the president has lined up across the country to promote ideas first presented in the State of the Union Address Tuesday night.

White House officials announced on Monday that Obama would be traveling to Ann Arbor as one of his stops, and 3,000 tickets were made available to the public at 9 AM.

Some students and faculty waited in line outside the Michigan Union Ticket Office for 14 hours to ensure they got a ticket to the event.

Teman Evans, a lecturer in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, was the first person in line. He heard Obama talk on campus May 2010 when the president gave the University of Michigan Spring Commencement address. As soon as Evans heard Obama was returning to Ann Arbor for the second time during his term, he said he had to see him again.

Thinking the largely liberal campus would be sharing his excitement, Evans prepared to get in line early.

“I thought the place would be packed with students with tents, and it would look like Black Friday, but I was the first one here,” he said while sitting on the floor of the Union at 10 p.m. last night.

But within a few hours, students began lining up outside the ticket office, and the crowd was pushed outside around 1 a.m. when the Union reached capacity.

First-time voters and U-M sophomores Molly Joyce and Maggie McGuire got in the line — wrapped around several streets — at 2 a.m. with a green polka dot comforter, blankets and pillows.
Joyce said it was “very cold,” but worth braving the Michigan weather. She said a dance party started around 4 a.m. — with people blasting music and dancing along the sidewalk.

McGuire, an Obama supporter, said she hopes Obama will discuss his ideas for decreasing the financial burden of higher education.

“I want to hear about what he’s going to do about helping people pay for school and making universities give kids more (financial aid), especially to kids from out-of-state,” McGuire said.

International students from Malaysia Akmal Jamilol and Memir Adzhar, both 20, grabbed coffee and egg and cheese sandwiches before getting a place in line outside at 7 a.m.

Though he can’t vote in the election, Jamilol said he is interested in seeing Obama and comparing him to the prime minster of Malaysia. Adzhar said he was surprised to see thousands of waiting in line for a ticket to see the president.

“We didn’t expect this,” Adzhar said.

Skyline High School student Iba Mwai, 15, of Ann Arbor, got in line at 7:30 a.m. She didn’t tell her parents that she was skipping school today, but said seeing Obama speak in her hometown is more important.

“He’s the president of the United States, and this doesn’t happen a lot,” she said.

When the ticket office finally opened around 8:50 a.m., the students — snoring in sleeping bags and doing homework while sprawled on the floor of the Union lobby — jumped to their feet and started shoving their piles of clothes and blankets in backpacks.

As the ticket office window swung open, Evans turned to his new friends who survived night with him, and shouted, “We did it!”

Upon receiving his ticket, he spun to face the crowd and waved the slip of paper proudly in the air. The students let out a large cheer in response.

Evans said he planned to get some sleep before teaching his first class at 1 a.m., but hoped his architecture students will excuse him if he arrives a little tired.

Story in photos: All pictures by Marissa McClain.

After 10 hours in line, U-M sophomores Ronak Mehta, Meaghan McCowey and Edward Slevin slumped into a booth in the nearby food court and proudly starred at their tickets on the table.

The three friends took turns getting snacks and more clothing throughout the night. They originally planned to get in line early in the morning, but when they passed by the Union last night and saw the hoards of people, they decided they couldn’t risk waiting.

“Originally we thought people were going to line up really early in the Union, but we saw people were already there, and it was quite a long line by about 11:45 p.m. when we showed up, so we got on and said we were just going to stay here for the whole night,” Slevin said.

Even though he’s exhausted and had to face a 10:30 a.m. engineering class, Mehta said it feels “pretty nice” to finally have the ticket in his hand.

“I would like to sleep, but I have classes and other commitments so I guess it will have to wait,” he said.

McCowey sadly realized they won’t get much sleep tonight either since doors open at 7 a.m. tomorrow.

“We’ll have to wake up early all again,” she said.

But the group of friends was among the lucky students who managed to snag tickets. Nicholas Smith, the assistant director for the Center of Campus Involvement, said officials ran out of tickets had to turn hundreds of people way.

For the most part, Smith said the students and community members in line were cooperative.

“There were just a couple line-cutting instances, but nothing too bad,” he said. “Everyone is in really good spirit.”

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