Last Thursday, our university hosted the 2008 vice presidential debate. Although the debate is unlikely to change the way that people vote, there is always one inevitable question that people ask: who won? The real winners were the students.

Despite the media circus that circulated campus last Thursday, asking for student opinions and forecasting the probable course of the debate, the degree of student activism was surprisingly low.

The day of the debate was the most exciting day I’ve had at Wash. U., and it looked like many students agreed with me. I heard friends throughout the day say, “I wish it was debate day every day!” and “This is even better than W.I.L.D.!”

I’ve often wished Washington University had Division I athletics, but not for the athletics themselves.

Like nearly all of the undergraduate students on Washington University’s campus, this will be my first presidential election. It will be the first time I cast a ballot on election day; the first time I do real, committed research on the candidates; and the first time I will truly act as a citizen of the United States.

Last Thursday, Washington University hosted yet another important national political debate, its fourth in the last five election cycles.

With students applying for federal financial aid assistance in record numbers this year, the financial fate of college students may be impacted by who the next president of the United States will be.

Drawing in more viewers than any other vice presidential debate in history, Thursday’s vice presidential debate at Washington University went off without a hitch, University Chancellor Mark Wrighton said.

In the wake of last Thursday’s vice presidential debate, politically-oriented student groups have reported a positive response to debate-day political activities and a desire to harness the political energy on campus for the future.

A total of 432 students received tickets to the vice presidential debate—close to three times the number of students who had received tickets at previous debates.