As the race for the presidential seat in the White House is accelerating, Biden’s campaign team announced on May 15, that he would not be participating in any debates held by the Commission on Presidential Debates scheduled for this upcoming fall. Among the three, Virginia State University was projected to host a live presidential debate on October 1, making it the first HBCU to host a presidential debate. HBCU students, alumni, and local lawmakers are outraged at the sudden pull and reversal of potential history that could be made.
The outrage initially stems from the deviation from a schedule made almost a year in advance. According to the CPD (Commission on Presidential Debates), they had already “announced sites and dates for the 2024 debates in November 2023. As it always does, the CPD considered multiple factors in selecting debate dates in order to make them accessible by the American public. These factors include religious and federal holidays, early voting, and the dates on which individual states close their ballots.”
Sources say the initial reason for Biden’s dismissal of this schedule is due to the dates being too far into the election process, potentially even passing early voting deadlines in most states, posing an ethical issue. Jen O’Malley Dillon, former White House Chief Deputy of Staff, and now a prominent leader in Biden’s 2024 campaign mentioned in a letter that these set debates are after voters have cast ballots early mentioning “tens of millions of Americans will have already voted.”
This letter goes on to say, “The Commission’s failure, yet again, to schedule debates that will be meaningful to all voters – not just those who cast their ballots late in the fall or on Election Day – underscores the serious limitations of its outdated approach.”
46 of the 50 states have windows open for absentee and early voting as early as 40 days in advance to November 5. According to Gallup, in 2022 it was predicted that 41% of all Americans would vote early, this percentage also includes absentee votes as well. The numbers seem to have also increased dramatically since the 2020 pandemic and election. Regardless of the statistics many are still outraged and are pushing to have this debate happen, especially for students who may be pushed to vote by seeing this experience live.
In a statement following the disappointment, VSU shared that they are “disappointed to hear media reports suggesting that the U.S. Presidential Candidates may not participate in the scheduled October 1, 2024 debate at VSU. A presidential debate at VSU is a huge win. Not only for our students and campus community but for the greater community in general.”
Lawmakers are also outraged and are placing a call to action to move forward. Attorney General Jason Miyares said, “Virginia State University, and this community, should host a presidential debate, as planned.”
Former Governor L. Douglas Wilder mentioned in his blog that this decision to cancel this debate will have a negative impact on overall engagement stating that this “ directly affects the people and is a detriment to civic engagement, which directly contradicts the principles of democracy for our citizenry. This is especially problematic for our African-American communities, who have far too long been disenfranchised by political establishments on both sides of the aisle.”
For many college students, this will be their first opportunity to vote in a presidential election. The news has taken a toll on students leaving them outraged, especially students within the HBCU community.
Justin Ellis, the Associate Director of Campus Recreation and Student Activities at Norfolk State University, emphasized the impact that would be missed due to the denial saying, “It would have been historic on so many levels, this is a missed opportunity to engage a whole group across the country. With over 100 HBCUs in our nation, there probably would have been watch parties across the nation.”
Adding to that he also brought up the point that this may have sparked the interests of the collegiate generation saying, “Not only were some students going to get the face-to-face interaction but you would’ve had the attention of thousands of young voters who may have still been on the fence to vote.”
A student from Hampton University who’s studying political science mentioned that he was very “disappointed” due to making plans to attend this historical debate, also adding, “It would’ve been a great experience to watch history happen like this, I hope they can reconsider. This would’ve caused more HBCUs and students to be involved in not just national politics but local politics too.”
As lawmakers and students raise awareness across social media, there is hope that one day this historic first can be made at an HBCU. Until then students will have to count on the televised presidential debates happening this summer to inform them on the two candidates. The first happening on June 27, 2024, streaming live on CNN and other national news networks.
Image Credit: vsu.edu: Drone view of Virginia State University.
