The first round of University of Denver students have been selected to attend Wednesday’s presidential debate — and hopefully they checked their email.
The lucky ones were chosen at a lottery Monday morning on the Driscoll Green. Student government leaders — including undergraduate student government president Sam Estenson, undergraduate student government vice president Parker Calbert and graduate student government president Nick Bowlby — drew the names one by one. Some winners were present, but those who weren’t received an email with instructions on where to report on debate day. Students who don’t respond within the time provided in the instructions will see their tickets returned to the general pool. More names are likely to be drawn Tuesday as the University learns exactly how many tickets it has to distribute to students.
“I think this university has put in a lot of effort to make this a great debate for all the candidates,” said ticket recipient Paul Macias (BA ’12), a graduate student at the Morgridge College of Education. “It’s exciting this is on our campus. I think this is a great opportunity for the country to see our university as the forum for national discussion.”
Leslie Rossman, a ticket recipient who also happens to be vice president of graduate student government, was planning to volunteer on debate day, but now, she said, she’ll have to find someone to cover for her.
“As a communications scholar, [I’m looking forward to] seeing how effective the debates are within the political process, and I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for me, being a student at the University of Denver, to be a part of it,” says Rossman, a third-year PhD student in communication studies. “I think we’re going to have this feeling of being a part of the political process — actually being a part of it. It’s pretty exciting.”