Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said last night that he was proud of the way Pennsylvania voted in Tuesday's election.

"I'm happy to see Pennsylvania stand up for justice," he said, and a packed house at Schwab Auditorium applauded in response.

The civil rights leader spoke at Penn State last night in an event sponsored by the Africana Research Center and the Department of African and African American Studies.

"Our democracy is healthier tonight than it was yesterday," Bond said, referring to Tuesday's election that shifted control of Congress into the hands of the Democrats.

He said voters were fed up with the way Bush had handled Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq.

"What happened yesterday wasn't an election, it was an intervention," Bond said.

He said that not all of the decisions made by voters yesterday were good, however, citing Michigan voters' support of a statewide ban on affirmative action. He said that some Republicans are aiming to disenfranchise black voters.

"There is a right-wing conspiracy," Bond said, adding that it pervades into the administration, Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court and the media.

He criticized some states' laws requiring voters to produce identification at the polls, saying that these measures are deliberate attempts by those wishing to silence voters to discourage minority and poor voters from participating in the democratic process.

Bond also said that while political interest in the NAACP is strong among college students, that doesn't always last beyond graduation.

"When these young people leave college and go out into the world, we lose them," he said.

After his speech, Bond met with a small group of students and community members in the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center for "A Chat with Julian."

There, he gave leaders of student groups suggestions on how to capture the attention of Penn State's administration.

"This is like every other school in the country," he said. "The ultimate pressure point is the president."