The Vice Presidential Debate

I'm mainly planning on writing about last night's Vice Presidential Debate and how it was received at Vassar; however, before I do, I need to tie up one unfinished piece of business about transportation during short breaks (October break, Thanksgiving break, Spring break). The other day, I mentioned that Vassar provided a bus service to Boston for these three breaks last year. I can now confirm that the school is once again offering this service this year. According to an email the student body received yesterday the bus leaves from Vassar at 3:30 on the Friday October Break begins. It costs $35 and makes two stops: MTA Riverside, Newton MA and South Station, Boston (ETA at Boston is 8:00 pm).

Now that that's cleared up... on with the debate!

Although Vassar is certainly a liberal campus, it is not an overtly political one, most of the time. There are plenty of students who are passionate about politics; however, I would say that most are interested in a few issues that they personally relate to in some manner, usually of the social persuasion. There is also a rather sizable amount of the student population that doesn't seem to care that much about politics. They complain about Bush, of course, but they're not very interested in what's going on in the political world on a daily (or even weekly) basis; I would describe them as politically apathetic, I guess.

That being said, there is a definite rise in student interest in politics this semester on-campus, and last night's Vice Presidential Debate "parties" were a testament to this. Most (if not all) of the dorms held screenings of the debate. In addition, the Vassar Dems and the Debate Team teamed up to hold a showing of the debate on a projector screen on the second floor of the All Campus Dining Center, which I attended.

It was a good thing I arrived twenty minutes early: by the time the debate started, the room and the balcony on the floor above it were both packed with students. I would estimate that at least 300 students showed up to see the debate (with more watching in their dorm T.V. rooms), and that just about everyone stayed for the entirety of it. Granted, there were some individuals who showed up with the intent of seeing which debater would screw up first, and a few guys whose primary interest lay in ogling Palin. Those people aside, most really seemed interested in what the candidates had to say. With the exception of the chortles that rose up at such trademark Palin phrases as "bless their hearts" and the claps that resounded when one of the two debaters (usually Biden) made a particularly strong point, the group was impressively quiet and focused. Most impressive of all at a liberal institution like Vassar, there were several claps and cheers for Palin (although the vast majority were decidedly for Biden). Although I'm a liberal, it was refreshing to see that there is a conservative presence at Vassar and that these students are comfortable enough to express their beliefs, even though they may be in the minority.