by Riley Blankenship

On the night of September 10, the student center buzzed with anticipation as the Sankofa Center, GC Votes, SGA, and Student Success & Engagement hosted a watch party for the tense debate between former President Donald Trump and current vice President Kamala Harris. Juliet Lowery, the director of diversity, equity and inclusion, was the main figure responsible for setting up this event, mainly to get students more involved and to gain more insight regarding the upcoming election. Other faculty such as John Felton, Director of Residence Life, as well as Warche Downing, Dean of Student Success and Engagement, attended the debate as well. Those who came to the debate enjoyed pizza along with meaningful discussion regarding the upcoming election and thoughts regarding the candidates.

As the watch party started, it was met with laughter, groans and discussions during commercial breaks regarding the debate. Multiple topics were discussed during the debate such as the economy, healthcare, immigration and many more topics that are currently on many Americans’ minds. One thing I observed from watching both candidates’ debate is that researching and practicing weeks prior played a huge role in the debate. Sources had been circulating a week prior to the debate that Harris was looking back at the 2016 election debates between Donald Trump and Hilliary Clinton as well as having a mock debater that played the role of Trump. All of this hard work paid off for Harris as Trump was taken back multiple times during the night and came with the same rebuttals as previous debates.

I believe this was a wonderful opportunity for both students and faculty come together to discuss important topics and moreover, to watch history being made. I came away from this debate feeling more insightful regarding the upcoming election as well as understanding more about the candidates.