Oct. 20, 2004

Students Keep a Close Eye on the Presidential Debates

By Julia Jacobelli

The Marvin Center was enveloped in a carnival-like atmosphere Sept. 30 as students arrived to watch the first of the three presidential debates. More than 300 students showed up to support their selection for President between the viewing in the Marvin Center and the one in the Pub at the Mount Vernon Campus, where Professor of International Affairs and Political Science Maurice East addressed the crowd. Towers of red, white and blue balloons framed both the doorways and the huge screen where the televised debate was shown. The floor was divided between the College Republicans and the College Democrats, each side sporting T-shirts and large, colorful signs advertising their choice of candidate. The debate was punctuated by cheers and the occasional boos or groans as the divided student body attentively watched the debate.

“The President did an amazing job, especially showing the duplicities of Kerry and how he continues to flip flop about the issues,” said Rosanne Feruggia, sporting a Bush/Cheney T-shirt. Feruggia chairs the GW chapter of “W” Stands for Women.

On the other side of the spectrum, Caroline Hough, a sophomore wearing a Kerry/Edwards sticker, said she didn’t think either candidate addressed the issues. “Both candidates said what they wanted to say regardless of the questions asked.”

Following the closing remarks from the candidates, the crowd erupted with cheers and whistles from the College Democrats, and chants of “four more years” from the College Republicans. Students on both sides say they were looking forward to the debates over the next couple of weeks, and many expressed the pride they felt in their candidates and their confidence in his message.

Students in the Dean’s Scholars in Globalization program engaged in an animated discussion of the activities leading up to the presidential debate with their counterparts at the University of Chile in Santiago on the Mount Vernon Campus. They were hosted in the Java City Lounge. The students and East, the guest speaker on the topic of the presidential debates, squared off with their Chilean counterparts using laptops equipped with Webcams and microphones. The Dean’s Scholars will send a recorded copy of the debate to Santiago, to generate discussions on the coming elections in the United States, and the students’ views on the foreign policy agendas of both the incumbent and opposing candidate and the implications for both countries.

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