Scranton in Play for Presidential Election
While Northeast Pennsylvania saw frequent campaign stops from Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and now President-Elect Donald Trump, The University of Scranton saw a role on the national political stage through faculty interviews and coverage of “Debate Watches” hosted by the College Democrats and College Republicans student clubs. In addition, the University hosted a stop in the national tour of C-SPAN’s Campaign 2016 Bus and a Town Meeting about the election by Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN), as well as numerous lectures by faculty about topics concerning the electorate in this cycle.
From left: University of Scranton alumnus Paul Orgel, Class of 1986, interviews Scranton political science professor Jean Wahl Harris, Ph.D., for a segment aired on C-SPAN's Washington Journal. Dr. Harris discussed issues affecting Pennsylvania voters in the presidential election.
C-SPAN's Washington Journal interviewed University of Scranton political science professor Jean Wahl Harris, Ph.D., regarding Pennsylvania voters in the U.S. presidential and U.S senate races. The interview (click here for video) was conducted by Scranton alumnus and C-SPAN host Paul Orgel. The interview was conducted via Skype from the University’s TV studio under the watchful eyes of journalism students in the class of communication professor Kim Pavlick, Ph.D.
In addition, political science professor Michael Allison, Ph.D., was interviewed in article (click here for article) about Pennsylvania being a swing state on CCTV, the English-language news channel run by Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television. Also, the Philadelphia Inquirer published an opinion piece (click here for article) by political science professor Len Champney, Ph.D., regarding Pennsylvania polls for the presidential election.
More than 100 students visited the C-SPAN Campaign 2016 Bus during its stop on campus in November. The bus, which travels across the country, features interactive quizzes to test knowledge of the political process, HD-TVs, touch screen computers, laptops and mobile devices to educate the public about the election and C-SPAN’s in-depth public affairs coverage.
The College Democrats and College Republicans student clubs jointly hosted watch parties for the presidential and vice presidential debates, some of which were covered in national stories by the Associated Press (click here for article), as well as locally by WNEP-TV and the Scranton Times-Tribune. The clubs also jointly hosted an “Election Day Count Down” event to watch the returns on the evening of the election and worked with other University offices to conduct a voter registration drive on campus.
More than 100 students visited the C-SPAN Campaign 2016 Bus during its national tour stop in Scranton. The bus features interactive quizzes to test knowledge of the political process, HD-TVs, touch screen computers, laptops and mobile devices to educate the public about the election.
Students watch the Presidential Debate at a Debate Watch hosted by the College Democrats and College Republicans student clubs at Scranton.
