The basement of Allison Hall was bustling with students and faculty awaiting returns from the Iowa caucus on Monday, Feb. 1.

The 2016 Iowa Caucus watch party was organized by the Political Science Majors Committee in partnership with the College Republicans, College Democrats and Student Senate.

“The screening is intended to be a non-partisan event so people can come, listen and form their own ideas rather than see results the next day. The Political Science Department provides a safe atmosphere to have those conversations,” said Lillian Corman ’16, one of the student organizers of the event. Corman said that the department was unsure of how many students would show up, but members were pleasantly surprised by the turnout.

“This serves as a good indication that people are interested. By the time fall comes around, we’ll definitely hold more screenings. If we get more funding, it would be very cool to screen more of the election process like this,” said assistant professor of Political Science David O’Connell, the faculty convener of the event.

Along with the screening, assistant professors of Political Science Sarah Niebler and Kathleen Marchetti and assistant professor of Economics Anthony Underwood offered commentary on issues pertaining to politics, gender equality and the importance of environmental considerations in political issue raising.

“It was great to see professors use their expertise in relation to a real-time situation,” said Sarah Talmage ’16. Succeeding the talks, groups of students and professors alike held invested conversations on what the results of the Iowa caucus would mean for the rest of the election.

“In general, in an election everyone will have their party loyalties and will vote that way. Some part of me has to believe in the American people to make the right choices—that’s a scary thing, but it’s got to happen,” said Justine Lenzer ’18. Lenzer’s hope is that people make informed decisions based on policy issues rather than loyalty, but believes that the candidates of each party do well to represent the opinions of each party well.

“I was reading an article in the news on Al Jazeera and it said that Iowa has statistically less minorities and is more politically skewed so it is not an accurate representation of what will happen in the race. However, since it is the first caucus, it becomes more accurate because people will respond to it,” said Klarra Osakue ’18.

“I’m impressed by the turnout and seeing people getting engaged. In terms of the stats, I’m not that surprised, but it’s still early. I’m interested to see if Rubio gets anywhere and if the Republicans would consider someone more moderate than Trump or Cruz,” said Emily Katz ’16.

Early results showed a two-horse race on the Republican end between Trump and Cruz, but by the end of the night Ted Cruz held 28 percent, Trump held 24 percent and Rubio gained 23 percent of the vote.

“Everyone was here to see if Trump will win Iowa. Bernie wasn’t really invested in Iowa because New England is more his place. But with what the Midwest is showing, it’s a good start for Bernie Sanders,” said Christopher Dunn ’18.

“On the Republican end, this is going to make the Northeast a dogfight,” commented Ian Wolf ’19.

At 84 percent of votes in, Clinton took 49.9 percent and Sanders took 49.4 percent of the votes. At 90 percent of votes counted, the percentages were 49.8 percent and 49.6 percent respectively. The race on the Democratic side continued to heat up throughout the night.

“This is absolutely incredible! The democratic race in Iowa has a difference of fractions of a percent!” Wolf mused.

The Republican vote named Cruz as the victor of Iowa’s caucus before 11 p.m., while the Democratic vote led to a close race until after 1 a.m. the next day. By 1 a.m., headlines were streaming the words ‘a virtual tie’ between Clinton and Sanders across the screens. However, Clinton received a narrow victory of delegates by the end of the night.

“For the Republicans, I wasn’t surprised by the results because Cruz and Trump are very good at marketing themselves. For the Democratic Party, regardless of who takes Iowa, it shows that their vote can make a difference. One vote,” said Elaine Hang ’19. Hang works as a student co-chair for Dickinson’s Bernie Sanders campaign under the College Democrats. Thus far, they have canvassed early last November, printing off fliers from Sanders’ website for details on his campaign ideas.

“They make it seem like change is so hard to do but Bernie’s proving them wrong. The results of this caucus will mobilize more people to vote for him,” Hang said with confidence.

The next round of votes will be cast on February 9 in New Hampshire.