Iler Field, located directly behind Dorrill Dining Hall, has been closed for the semester and will remain temporarily unavailable for student reservations until after the Vice Presidential Debate on Oct. 4.
“Iler Field is just temporarily unavailable for reservations because this is a great location for staging and we are going to be using the field for the debate activities,” said Louise Waller, executive director of campus planning and construction. “Closer to the debate it will be used as overflow parking for media.”
The field will host media trucks and equipment that are set to arrive late-Sept. and ultimately leave on Oct. 5 and Oct. 6, immediately after the debate, according to Waller.
“We (Longwood) are going to bring it (Iler Field) back online as soon as possible,” said Waller, “the goal is to have the field back online fully for students to use by mid-October by the very latest.”
Iler Field is within walking distance for the media personnel to access the Media Center located in the Health and Fitness Center in addition to Willett Hall, where the debate hall is.
“The secret service dictated the fact that the field would need to be used for the perimeter (of the debate),” added Waller.
Currently, the field hosts a large trailer that will be used for network and information technology (IT) equipment for the media stations present for the debate. The media stations will require network access, which will be connected through the use of the network trailer, according to Waller.
Longwood is expecting 2,000-3,000 media visitors, according to Matthew McWilliams, director of communications.
“There’s a lot of activities that are debate related,” added Waller.
There is expected to be TV networks and cable networks out on campus broadcasting their shows live, according to Justin Pope, co-director of the 2016 debate and chief of staff in the president’s office.
“As we have gotten closer to the debate period we have become more aware of what that fully meant and what the requirements were,” said Waller.
Color Wars, a Longwood tradition, is set to take place on Friday, Oct. 21 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Iler Field.
“I can’t imagine we would be having color wars anywhere else,” said Waller, “Anything scheduled by mid part of October we would be able to accommodate.”
Longwood plans to get the campus back to normal as soon as the debate is over, according to Waller.
Iler field, located behind Dorrill Dining Hall, can't be reserved for use until the debate is over.
