IU loses US presidential debate bid

For the second time, IU has been passed up as a host for a U.S.
presidential debate.

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced the sites for the three presidential and one vice presidential debates, and IU did not make the cut.

“It’s kind of, as you can assume, pretty devastating news,” said Riley Voss, Union Board director of debates and issues and one of the initiative’s leaders. “There was a lot of work that went into this, 12-plus months.”

IU’s bid for a debate was coordinated by a coalition of campus organizations, including Union Board, the IU Student Association, the Political and Civic Engagement Program and Residence Halls Association. The Student Debate Coalition officially submitted the bid in April after months of preparation the began in fall 2010.

The commission contacted IU President Michael McRobbie on Monday to inform him IU was not selected. McRobbie contacted the student leaders of the initiative.

“A lot of us were shocked because we all kind of thought this would be our year,” IUSA President Justin Kingsolver said. “We heavily invested in the proposal.”

He said the bid cost about $7,500 to campus organizations and offices.
“This is something a lot of people have thrown themselves into,” he said. “I can’t see another school having such a strong application.”

The schools selected by the commission to host presidential debates next fall were Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., and the University of Denver. The vice presidential debate will be at the Centre College in Danville, Ky. Washington University in St. Louis is the backup site.

Janet Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said selecting the host schools requires balancing the logistics and schedules involved with each site.

“The reason they were chosen is not quite the reason the other schools weren’t,” Brown said. She said the commission looks for “four sites that are not only sound, but they work well together.”

Kim DeVigil, director of news and public affairs for the University of Denver, said the campus is starting to prepare programs to pair with the debate, which is scheduled for
Oct. 3, 2012.

“It’s not just a one-day event but a full year of programs,” DeVigil said. “It’s really an exciting day for DU, but it’s also a great day for the city and county of Denver. Colorado has never hosted a presidential debate.”

One of the requirements to be selected by the commission was to create additional academic programming around the debate. Voss said the Student Debate Coalition at IU worked with academic schools and departments on campus as well as other student groups to prepare for a full year of debate-centered courses and programs.

These programs, which potentially would have included eight-week courses and special speakers, would focus on understanding presidential debates and the role they play in the larger presidential campaign, Political and Civic Engagement Program Director Michael Grossberg said.

“For us, it was an opportunity to think creatively about how we might contribute to this larger project,” he said. “It’s still going to be a very consequential election, and we hope students get involved in it, since that’s a goal of the program.”

Voss and Grossberg both said many of the programs will likely continue, even though IU lost the bid.

“I think with the youth vote being so important, a lot of these programs should be in effect,” Voss said. “I don’t think we need to scrap this idea of turning IU into a politically active university.”

He said decisions about the continuation of specific debate-themed programs negotiated with different offices and divisions on campus should begin coming out in the next week. He also said even without the debate, the University should try to get candidates on campus.

“My goal in the last nine months has been getting this set so we can motivate and activate students politically,” Voss said. “Just because we don’t have a debate doesn’t mean we can’t have presidential candidates on campus and have programs.”

IU first applied for a presidential debate in 2008. The initiative began with Jeff Fraser, then an IUSA freshman intern, and then-IUSA Vice President Andrew Lauck. While the University didn’t receive a debate, it was a finalist, which helped pave the way to being a finalist for the 2012 debate.

“Luckily we had the bid from ’08, and a lot of the changes that were made were made in the four years since,” Voss said.

From the get-go, the Student Debate Coalition has been a student-run group. The University worked with students and supported their efforts to become a host site, but the proposal and preparations were all made by students.

“We would have been honored to host one of the presidential debates, and we congratulate the schools that were awarded a debate,” Mark Land, associate vice president for University communications, said in an email. “The IU team, led by the Student Debate Coalition, worked hard to put together a competitive proposal, and IU would have been an outstanding host, but sometimes things just don’t break your way.”

Voss said he hopes to see IU apply for a 2016 debate and that he will leave documentation of the best way to go about doing so with the next committee.

“I think we’re going to be more prepared for it next time than were this time,” Voss said. “I don’t think IU is going to stop applying until we get one.”