On Tuesday evening, The Rat was transformed into a political forum where students carried out a heated two-hour-long mock presidential candidates' debate. The event, which was staged in order to spread awareness about some of the main contenders in the upcoming primary elections, featured four members of the College Democrats and five from the College Republicans, each representing a potential candidate from their respective parties. The debate was moderated by College Democrats president John Wheatley A&S '08, and College Republicans president Michael Sinacore A&S '08. The event, coordinated by the Undergraduate Government of Boston College, the College Democrats, and the College Republicans, also featured voter registration tables and literature about each candidate from the debate.
"Our primary goal [was for this to] be an educational event; it [was] exciting to have a debate format in there, so that we could have some back forth and see it live and in action, as opposed to just reading facts on paper," said Matthew Wheeler, co-director of political action for UGBC and A&S '10.
Alexandra Saieh, co-director of political action for the UGBC and A&S '09, said, "Most of the issues are going to really affect our generation, and in the past students really haven't gone out to vote … they've always been known as the group that is really active, but then doesn't show up to the polls on voting day. So it's really important that … we make every effort to change that and encourage people to vote. A lot of the students don't really know the issues of the campaign or the candidates' stances on the issues, so this is just an easy way for people to get information."
The students chosen to represent the candidates were not necessarily supporters of that particular campaign, but each student was responsible for adhering to the views of the candidates and not his or her own personal opinions.
The night began with the five Republican candidates for president: John McCain, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, and Ron Paul, represented by Jared Scheinuk, A&S '10, Alex Guittard, A&S '11, Trevor Lair, A&S '10, Kevin Boland, A&S '08, and Brian Cunningham, A&S '08, respectively.
2008 Woodie Awards
