The Washington University Athletic Complex is continuing its transformation from sports venue to “town hall” for the second presidential debate on, Oct. 8.
In the second of a series of media briefings, university administrators and students provided updates on debate preparations, security issues, student-organized events and efforts to mobilize young voters.
David Ader, president of Student Union, talked about the many student-oriented activities surrounding the debate, including the William Kristol Assembly Series talk, the Mo Rocca post-debate event, the Educate Yourself:2004 series of forums and MTV’s Rock the Vote.
Amy Block, president of the Graduate Professional Council, said that graduate students are very involved and excited about the debate. A recent council-sponsored voter registration drive drew nearly 400 people.
Senior Teresa Sullivan founded the St. Louis chapter of Project Democracy at the university last academic year. Project Democracy is a young-voter mobilization effort on 40 college campuses throughout the country. The group has been working at the university to register new voters in an effort to help produce the largest student voter turnout in history.
“Here at the university, our Project Democracy chapter has registered more than 900 new voters,” Sullivan said. “We have had a huge push over the last couple of days and numbers have been climbing dramatically”.
Nationally, Project Democracy has registered more than 10,000 new voters.
While security continues to be a hot topic for this debate, University Police Chief Don Strom thinks his team, in conjunction with area police forces and the FBI and Secret Service, has a very good handle on it.
“I don’t think there are any drastic changes between this debate and the one in 2000,” Strom said. “If anything, we are better prepared, having been through it four years ago. We’ve had a great partnership with the St. Louis County Police Department and law enforcement throughout the region, and I think we are all better prepared by the experience of having been through it, not only in 2000, but in planning for the 1992 and 1996 debates as well.”
After the briefing, members of the media were given a tour of the Athletic Complex to see the ongoing construction work in the debate hall and in the media filing center where “spin alley” will be after the debate.