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There are many things that have inspired campuses to join together and celebrate. A wave of patriotism binds them now with the death of Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the dreaded terrorist organization al-Qaida.

At Birmingham University, a group of elated students started parading the grounds on Monday morning. Soon, this group grew in numbers as students poured out waving flags, launching fireworks, sharing champagne and shouting slogans on the megaphones.

It must indeed have been a great sight to see hundreds of voices singing “The Star Spangled Banner” and chanting “USA”. Following the announcement of the death of Osama in his Abbottabad compound in Pakistan at the hands of the United States forces, students began assembling the grounds around Monday midnight.

In his announcement, President Obama said that after months of intelligence work, US operation finally succeeded in killing bin Laden. He also said that in the operation that was ordered by him, there were no American casualties.

Birmingham University students rallied on the parade grounds for hours. The celebration was brought to the streets by a few that included a Dickinson College Rafuse Hall resident and political science major, Chris Formisano.

A biology major freshman Zach Bilder was also a part of the initial celebrations. He along with Chris Formisano and many others were ecstatic about Osama’s death and takes credit for starting the rally.

A similar rally was also started in the College-in-the-Woods. This group of hundred or more met the BU group of students at the Lecture Hall south entrance where Bilder spoke to them. The crowd was enthusiastically urged by Bilder to celebrate the historic night following which all of them sang the national anthem.

The rally procession was met by the New York State University police, Binghamton at the Bingham Hall, Newing College. The officers did nothing, just watched the festivities and were around to ensure that everything was peaceful.

It was indeed heartening to see Muslim students joining the celebrations against this significant victory over terrorism. All of them felt good at being accepted by the fellow students. A psychology junior, Farwah Sheikh said that it felt good to see people accepting them after being branded terrorists.

Celebrations at universities started becoming more organized with passage of time. American flags were handed out by political student group members. According to Birmingham review editor in chief Aaron Ricks, each flag represented a departed soul.

Ricks called this occasion a “day of justice” and said that they felt proud to be an American again. He said that this indeed was a significant closure even if it did not change much. There are many other unsolved problems in the world, he said. He added that this is “one less evil man alive”.

Interestingly there were skeptical students who tried to dissuade others from joining the rally. According to an integrative neuroscience sophomore Tom Fuchs, patriotism is indeed beautiful but not if born out of a feeling of revenge.

According to a biology sophomore Emilia Ronquillo, this feels like we gained complete independence. She said that it is not so as the al Qaida is still out there.