“It’s really a tremendous opportunity to put Longwood on the national or the international map.
There’s really almost nothing like it in the world, in terms of the eyes of tens of millions, hundreds of millions, of people being in one place for one moment,” said Justin Pope, the Chief of Staff, regarding the university’s application to host a 2016 presidential debate.
Longwood’s recent application for a 2016 presidential debate came about as an idea from President Reveley. The application and proposal were submitted to the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), at the end of March, and consisted of detailed information on topics such as facilities, telecommunications, transportation, city services, and security.
The application fee itself cost $8,000, and is non-refundable. According to the CPD application, this fee covers “administrative costs, a pre-selection site survey, and technical evaluations.” This fee does not cover any additional surveys prior to site selection.
If chosen to host the debate, the university would be required to pay a fee of $1,950,000 to the CPD. This payment would cover both direct and indirect debate costs. This cost does not include goods and services outlined in the guidelines, or other items listed in Section 9: Finances of the application, which the university would be required to pay. This list of items was not made available in the copy of the application binder provided to The Rotunda.
Longwood is one of 16 applicants for the 2016 presidential debates. Among those applicants are 12 other universities, two community colleges, and two cities. Some of the other universities include West Virginia University, Belmont University, and Wright State University. Of these 16 applicants, three will be chosen to host a presidential debate and one will be chosen to host a vice presidential debate.
Willett Hall is the proposed venue to hold a debate, and is the largest open space in any building on campus. The hall holds a gymnasium space of 17,658 square feet, which exceeds the requirement of 17,000 square feet. According to the proposal, the university consents to renting seating and lifts, as well as the installation of temporary carpeting throughout the venue.
The proposed venue for the media filing center, is the Health and Fitness Center, which is 19,332 square feet. This is 668 square feet short of the 20,000 square feet requirement. However, according to the proposal, additional spaces within the HFC would bring the space to the requirement. The university would also rent the necessary number of tables and chairs for approximately 700 journalists, as well as a CATV television system, with additional monitors.
One of the additional requirements is the need for at least 3,000 hotel rooms in the general area.
“There’s no doubt that they’re going to have to be a little bit flexible about the hotels. They have been in the past, and I think we make a pretty good case for asking them to be in the future. If they are ever going to have it in someplace that’s not a big city, they’re just going to have to be,” said Pope.
The proposal includes information on three hotels in Farmville, as well as two others, which will be completed before the debates and hotels in the Richmond area.
“I think we’ve put together a proposal that works for them, and I hope they will be understanding that we have some feasible options for that,” added Pope.
The university has already been in contact with the town of Farmville, the Farmville Police Department and other service companies such as Shentel and Century Link.
“So one of the really great things is how enthusiastic everyone has been that we’ve brought this up to. We contacted the town manager and the mayor, and without the slightest hesitation, they understood what a great thing this would be for Farmville,” said Pope.
Letters from the Governor McAuliffe, Farmville Town Manager, Longwood Chief of Police and others stated their endorsement for the university’s application.
“It’s a really exciting thing for Longwood to be a part of. I don’t think applying for a debate is necessarily the right thing for every university, but I think we looked at it really carefully and concluded that it would be a good fit for Longwood,” said Pope.
