By Laurel O’Keefe
STAFF WRITER
On Sept. 23, The Commission on Presidential Debates announced, to some disappointment, that Hofstra was declined as a primary site to host a 2016 presidential debate and was instead chosen to act as backup site.
Had Hofstra been chosen as a primary site for 2016, it would have been the university’s third time in a row hosting a presidential debate following 2008 and 2012. However, the consecutive experience may have hurt Hofstra’s chances as a candidate to host this time around.
“We hosted two successful debates but [The Commission on Presidential Debates] also moves them around, they want them to be in different states,” said the Vice President of University Relations, Mellissa Connolly. “They want to move them around so from what I understand, it was simply that it was someone else’s turn, which is why we were chosen as the alternate.”
Out of the 16 schools that applied, Washington University was the only veteran host selected. The other three, Wright State University, Longwood University and the University of Nevada, will host for the first time. Hofstra was chosen as a veteran backup site but it seems unlikely that a backup location will be utilized.
“Backup sites have been used in the past but it’s not that common,” said Connolly. “It’s really [used] if something happens at a site or there was one instance where a site declined to host right after being chosen, so it happens.”
As for the application process, Hofstra University spent immense efforts just to become a candidate to host the debate next year.
“The applications are fairly extensive. You have to present your entire plan in a number of areas like facilities, security, hotels and lodging,” said Connolly. “A team from The Commission of Presidential Debates usually visits the site and evaluates every site and even though they’ve been here before, they visited here too.”
After hosting two past presidential debates, Hofstra is more than equipped with facilities to host. While Hofstra was put on the back burner this year, the future of Hofstra’s hosting possibilities is not relative.
“It’s a very competitive process and only a four schools can be selected,” said Director for the Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency, Dr. Meenekshi Bose. “We’ve had a very good track record with our last two debates and the fact that we were picked as the backup location, I think, is a testament to our success in programming and hosting. I think there’s no doubt that we would be in serious contention down the road.”
Students seem to have mixed reactions to Hofstra University losing the debate bid. Some students were disappointed about not getting the chance to experience a debate in such close proximity, others were neutral.
“I heard we weren’t selected as a host site from an article shared by students online,” said sophomore biochemistry major, Liliana Hinojos Madrid. “I think it would have been a great attraction for students to experience.”
Hofstra University’s tickets for the debates in 2008 and 2012 were awarded to students by a lottery to increase the educational value of hosting.
“We work just as hard at making sure the student experience is integrated and the educational experience is integrated as we do at putting on the debate itself,” said Connolly. “I’m sad and I’m disappointed that we didn’t get it but I understand the need to move around and have it in different states and have other people exposed to it because I also know how it changed our community.”
Although Hofstra may not host a debate this year, the event of the 2016 debates will still be utilized on campus as an opportunity for students to analyze and understand all aspects of a presidential race.
“Students should take advantage of every opportunity to follow politics in the 2016 presidential race,” said Dr. Bose. “Hofstra will be putting together a full set of lectures and other programs to fulfill our education role in that process.”