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We're going to do the "documentaries" on a different night. My sense is that first, 2 films plus debates would be too long for people to sit still. I also agree with the comments here that fertilizing the ground with Michael Moore and something else like it will not be a good way to generate honest, thoughtful discussion about issues. It will likely just provoke enraged students.
The new plan is to host the debates is one of the lounge spaces here in the Residence Hall (we run a little Cafe there as well). There will be a political science-type person from another school here to watch with us and afterwards to deconstruct what happened. I'm hoping for a bit of a moderated discussion.
Irate - I am at the Juilliard School. It is a great place, but people can be so intent on their art that they exclude other opportunities or aspects of life. It is definitely an uphill battle to introduce the real world to our students. Even with something as large as the Presidential election coming up, we have to start people off from the beginning - what the parties stand for, why one should vote, what issues are currently hot... People here are very passionate, but often uninformed. As a result we see a lot of knee-jerk type reactions. It can be discouraging at times, but all we can do is keep taking baby steps.
I am having my staff put together a week and a half of themed events. There will be a speaker from the women voter's league, possibly someone from Hillary Clinton's office (an outside chance of the senator herself), the documentaries we have been discussing, a reading of a Tony Kushner play, and we are hosting viewings for all of the debates, and of course, voter registration stuff at everything. It is actually quite a production for such a small school.
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Cogito ergo spud -- I think, therefore I yam
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