On the night of Jan. 28, Samuel M. Simon ’06-’07 walked into a room in Manchester, N.H. with over 100 other volunteers from Howard Dean’s presidential campaign.

He was expecting to be handed a new assignment. Instead, he got fired.

“I was shocked. Walking into the room, I had no idea it was coming,” said Simon, who is also a Crimson editor.

The demise of former Vermont Governor Dean’s campaign—which Dean made official in a concession speech Wednesday—has left thousands of college-age staffers, volunteers, and supporters in the lurch. Harvard students are no exception.

Simon, who had been working as a paid staffer for Dean since June 1, had taken the fall term off to stay on the campaign. The layoff left him with a difficult choice: continue on as a volunteer or return to school.

The bad news came the day after the New Hampshire primary election—and a week before the start of Harvard’s spring semester.

“I went out to lunch with some friends, talked to my [academic] adviser, and decided it made more sense to return to school,” Simon said.

There was only one problem. Simon had already informed Harvard that he would also be taking off the spring term.

“I called my adviser that day at lunch,” he said. The good-humored sophomore in Eliot House was told that his adviser had already begun filing the proper paperwork after reading about the campaign’s layoffs in that morning’s paper.

“Don’t talk trash about Harvard advising,” Simon laughed.

The Party’s Over

With the Dean train finally out of steam, its staffers are left with the pesky question of what comes next.

For Simon, the biggest challenge will be adjusting to Harvard’s schedule, but he seems to be acclimating well.

“I can sleep now,” he joked. “I have three days off every week as opposed to one day off a month” on the campaign.

Others, especially Harvard alums, are still considering their options.