Several University student organizations held a screening of the presidential debate between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump in Newcomb Theater on Monday, which was attended by roughly 350 students.
The event was co-sponsored by Student Council, University Programs Council, UVAVotes, the Class of 2017, the Black Student Alliance, College Republicans and University Democrats.
The debate screening began with a short introduction from UVAVotes Representative Katie Brandon, who requested the viewing be a respectful space which everyone could enjoy, free from strong opinions.
The University Democrats provided voter registration forms for students at the event.
Maddie Houck, fifth-year Batten student and UPC vice chair of outreach, said the groups collaborated to co-sponsor the debate screening in order to combine all their resources. She credited John Bond, one of the vice chairs of programming, with the initial idea.
“We thought it would be best to pool our resources and bring as many students together as possible in order to make these events as meaningful as possible,” Houck said. “[Bond] felt that it would not be productive for us to compete with these events, but it would be worthwhile to work with the other organizations who could bring in different perspectives, other resources and help us bring in larger attendance.”
UPC approached other group leaders to see if they were interested in co-sponsoring the event a week and a half ago. The viewing of this debate did not include discussions or briefings afterwards because of the quick turnaround, but there may be some planned after the presidential debate screenings held on Oct. 9 and 19.
University Democrats President Sam Tobin, a fourth-year College student, said this is a chance for the whole University community to watch the debate together and let students engage politically.
“If we can vote, it is good for us to be civically engaged,” Tobin said. “These people are going to present two different visions for America in this debate, and it is very important students [who] vote in the polls of election day know which vision they agree with.”
This year the College Republicans also held a viewing of the debate in addition to co-sponsoring the collaborative screening in Newcomb, Ali Hiestand, third-year College student and College Republicans vice chairman of events, said.
“We initially declined just because we were having our own event and did not want to only give surface level support,” Hiestand said in an email statement. “We have parties for every single debate, including the primary debates, and this was a tradition we wanted to keep.”
College Republicans reconsidered and became official co-sponsors of the Newcomb screening.
“Sponsoring the event only really meant allowing our organization's name on it and promoting it internally within our organization, which we were happy to do,” Hiestand said.
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson did not receive enough support to participate in the first presidential debate, but Johnson supporters at the University still organized a separate viewing event to give people a second alternative to the debate watch party at Newcomb.
“Johnson’s having a Twitter response at Twitter HQ that will be livestreamed online,” Cameron Springer, third-year Engineering student and president of Youth for Johnson/Weld at U.Va., said before the event. “The Johnson/Weld group will be watching that in tandem with the debates.”
Regardless of party affiliation, all co-sponsors hoped students would attend the debate with an open mind to learn more about each candidate.
“We think it is very important that voters gets a chance to hear from all the candidates and get a chance to select their candidate that will best move the country forward,” Tobin said.
While acknowledging that debates often center on buzzwords and personal attacks instead of policy issues, Hiestand also emphasized the value of watching the presidential debates.
“I don't think being a good debater is necessarily indicative of a good president,” Hiestand said. “I do think it's important to watch the debates because it does help voters determine the most important issues to each candidate and the things they are most likely to focus on during their presidency.”
Houck said UPC thought it was important this debate screening be a school-sponsored event in order to provide students who might not own cable to still be informed voters in this year’s election.
“For so many people, the media bottles us into one point of view,” Houck said. “Debates are a really great time to see an engaging and usually bipartisan moderator come at candidates with worthwhile questions that challenge our points of view, and to hear the candidates, hopefully, answer those to the best of their ability.”
Third-year Commerce student Tara Seth came to the screening because of her interest in politics. At the end of the debate, she said the debate didn’t change her mind, and commented on how she believes the University community leans toward Clinton.
“There were situations where everyone cheered,” Seth said. “There were a few moments where I think if I were a Trump supporter I would’ve felt left out, but I think the University community are by and large Hillary supporters.”
First-year College student Meredith Murphy said the debate did not change her opinion.
“[It was a] waste of my hour and 30 minutes,” Murphy said. “I like to be politically educated but it made me nervous about what is going to happen.”
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