With the vice presidential debate approaching in nearly three months at Longwood University, many rumors have surfaced on campus as to how students and faculty will be affected.
Fitness Facility
Dr. Tim Pierson, Vice President of Student Affairs, sent out a mass email to the student body on May 23 revealing the new location of Midtown Landings. The new location will accommodate students and faculty in terms of the same machines as in the Health and Fitness Center but will not allow for group fitness classes as stated in the email. “…we will offer our usual full array of classes and fitness programs at various locations across campus throughout next fall,” Pierson stated via email.
While the debate is taking place on October 4, the Health and Fitness Center will remain closed for the entirety of the fall semester to upgrade the fitness center floor that will take weeks to complete, according to the email.
Those employees who already work at the gym will also not lose any work hours due to this change. “We will not miss a beat on any day of having facilities open for every Fitness machine that we have over there,” said Pierson.
With Longwood having such a variety of club sports with 24 in total, “the majority of them will not be affected by the debate,” according to the debate website.
As for volleyball and basketball, who primarily play in the Health and Fitness Center: “We are working on agreements with local partners to provide space for practice and matches. When those agreements are in place, we will let the affected teams know,” according to the debate website.
Residence Halls
No student will be forced or asked to move out of their residential rooms. The two new residential halls are starting to approach the finishing point in time for the debate. Pierson has confirmed that one of the two buildings will host students in the fall, while one is set for debate-affiliated personnel. Pierson assures the students that the residence occupied by the debate will be open to students to reside in for the spring semester.
According to the university’s debate website, Dorrill Dining Hall is still in question of whether or not it will remain open during the debate.
“The overall impact of this, we hope, will bring greater awareness of a political process for one and what it means to be citizen leaders that is embedded in our mission statement,” said Pierson.
The Cost
Longwood expects to spend a few million dollars in costs for hosting the debate. Expenditures will not come from student’s tuition but from cash reserve funds. Most of the cost for hosting the debate originates from upgrades to campus infrastructure that has already begun, according to the university’s debate website.
“We (Longwood) currently project spending roughly $5.7M on operating expenses for the debate. These one-time expenditures include things like preparing the debate venue, public safety, hotel rooms, media outreach, signage, transportation, and academic and extra-curricular programming associated with the event (such as speakers), programming Longwood is conducting with local schools, as well as the fee paid to the Commission on Presidential Debates for TV production costs in anticipation of national viewership exceeding 50 million,” stated on the debate website.
Schools that have hosted the event in years past have reported that the economic impact has exceeded $10 million. In addition to the $10 million, the global publicity can be expected to hover around $50 million, according to the university’s debate website.
In 2012, there was reported to be 50 million people to have viewed the vice presidential debates, according to the university’s debate website.
The Petition
There are 145 current signatures on an online student-created petition titled “Petition: Longwood believes that its name recognition outweighs the health and personal concerns of its paying students. Help us let President Reveley (know) we are NOT okay with this” in the hopes of bringing their voices to light with the rumors surrounding the debate being hosted at Longwood.
The petition addresses the rumors of the deprived use of some of the facilities around campus during the time surrounding the debate, such as the Student Health & Wellness Center and Willett Hall. The petition also claims that students will not be able to live in the new residence halls currently under construction in front of Arc Hall in the fall of 2016 in order to instead accommodate for debate and media personnel.
The petition has decreased signatures by one, and the last signature was added three months ago.
“Hosting the vice presidential debate will have an impact on the campus. There isn’t any question about that,” said Pierson
To answer some of the rumors described in this petition as well as word of mouth around campus, Pierson sent out a mass email to all students providing clarification with a link to the university’s debate website connected to Longwood’s homepage.
Through the website, students are able to submit any questions they may have about how the debate will run and what will be affected.
“As more clarity unfolds in terms of the exact amount of disruption, there will be, I think, more people will get more comfortable with it,” added Pierson.
Previous Hosting Schools
Pierson added that Longwood staff has met with other institutions, which have hosted such events to discuss the planning, which goes into hosting a debate.
Longwood staff has spoken with Hofstra University in New York and Centre College in Kentucky about what to expect with this debate. According to Pierson, both academic institutions share the similarity of being smaller campuses.
The debate is set to take place in Willett Hall on October 4, 2016. Any questions about the debate can be submitted through the Longwood debate website at debate.longwood.edu.
