Hofstra’s campus giddy over debate

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Monday night’s verbal smackdown between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is a hot ticket on the campus of Hofstra University.

About 7,500 students, or more than two-thirds of the student body, entered the lottery for only a few hundred tickets to witness the cycle’s first presidential debate, being held Monday night in a campus basketball arena.

More than 800 students applied for about 500 jobs as volunteer staff for the event. Some will be helping in the media center, where thousands of journalists will gather to file stories as the debate unfolds. Others will be handing out credentials, shuttling VIPs, serving as network production assistants or working as debate hall ushers.

“It’s the whole process of seeing what happens before it’s on camera,” said Madison Wright, a journalism major from Island Park, New York. She’s already watched crews construct stages where network news crews will be reporting.

Qian Xiong, an exchange student from China and marketing major, will be posting on Chinese social media during the debate.

“This is a world event,” she said, “so many people care about it.”

Hofstra, a private university 25 miles east of New York City, stepped in as a debate host after Wright State University in Ohio backed out.

The university, with an enrollment of 10,870, was able to put together logistical plans for the debate in about 60 days, building on its experience of having hosted debates in 2008 and 2012.

The lucky winners of the lottery for debate hall seats were to be notified over the weekend whether they’re getting in.

“I do not have a strong background in politics, so having this here really gives me the opportunity to learn more about it,” said Jordan Heiden, a senior from Southwick, Massachusetts, and debate volunteer who will be working in the media filing center.