DETROIT (WXYZ) — Students at Wayne State University gathered in Manoogian Hall on Tuesday night to watch the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
The event was organized by associate professor Ron Stevenson, who was once himself on the debate team at Wayne State. He hopes his students — many of them on the school debate team — pay attention to the election process and learn from watching the debate.
“A lot of college students consider themselves political. The real question though is how informed they are on where people actually stand on the issues and to watch the arguments politicians make in context rather than the snippets they may see on social media. So to give them a more complete understanding, especially one where they’re hearing both sides, to improve their critical thinking," Stevenson said. "We encourage them to watch events like this.”
Students who watched the debate said they took notice on not just what the candidates said but how they said it.
“Definitely was very interesting to say the least,” said WSU senior and debate team President David Faust. “I feel that body language has been a big part of this as well, and I think Kamala Harris has done a good job saying the things that need to be said.”
“Her facial expressions are very vocal with how she feels about these topics and she makes it very clear to begin with," sWSU sophomore and debate team member Carsen Troub said. "I think that boiling over to that situation where she called him extreme and started laughing at his random discussions about eating dogs, I think it’s very clear.”
“If I was throwing around these hyperboles and grand gestures in a debate round... hopefully, my opponent would do the right thing and call me out on it and ask for my evidence cards, and I would have to cite that for them," WSU debate team assistant coach Megan Dombrowski said. "That’s not being done here tonight.”
Stevenson said if another debate is scheduled for the two candidates, he hopes to have a larger campus-wide viewing party.
