Letter from the editor: Join us on our “Road to the White House”

A year from today the phrase “From Belmont University” will be heard in millions of homes around the world.

The third and final presidential debate of the 2020 election will take place on campus the evening of Oct. 22, 2020.

Thousands of journalists, hundreds of government officials and two pivotal candidates will crowd the Curb Event Center for what will be the most important event in the history of the university.

A clipping from a 2008 issue of Circle magazine shows statistics from the 2008 debate

If the last debate in 2008 was any indication of what’s to come, students and faculty can expect a chain link fence wrapping around the Curb, activists lining Belmont Boulevard and thorough security checks from the federal government.

A clipping from a 2008 issue of the Belmont Vision, showing the chain link fence around the Curb Event Center

What students and faculty can also expect is an event that’ll change the way the state, nation and entire world sees this private Christian university.

“This opportunity will provide an invaluable educational experience to our students, allowing them to observe firsthand our nation’s political process and to be participants in American history,” University President Dr. Robert Fisher said back in 2007 when Belmont was selected the first time.

His words at a press conference on Oct. 11 echoed the same sentiment — extreme gratitude and ecstasy for what this opportunity means for Belmont.

“It’s getting hard to brag because I’m just so overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness for the opportunities we get here,” Fisher said at the announcement.

Starting today, the Vision is kicking off an occasional series called “Road to the White House” to answer all the key questions of what hosting a debate on campus will mean. Stories will investigate what will it cost, how can students see it, what the key issues of the debate are, what access students will have and what this exposure will bring to a campus of over 8,000 students.

The hope is that this series will provide in-depth, insightful and informative coverage of the debate that will take center stage a year from today.

Join us on this Road to the White House.

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Graphic by Luke Rogers.