Lottery Extended as Campus Rushes to Prepare for Forum

It was a buzz-filled weekend at Columbia as students struggled to enter their names in the lottery for the limited tickets to Thursday’s highly anticipated on-campus ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum and campus leaders scrambled to make plans.

Columbia announced on its Web site Friday evening that the deadline for student registration for the event in Lerner—which will feature presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain—would be extended until 8 a.m. Monday due to technical difficulties. Web site problems prevented many students from registering before Friday’s initial deadline of 4 p.m.

Online lottery registration began Friday morning, and the server quickly became overloaded from the large number of people trying to access it. Throughout the day, students complained that they were unable to load the registration page, even after repeated refreshing of the site. Others said they were unsure whether their registration had actually gone through.

“After the Fun Run I cooled down, but trying to register for the event got me all heated up again,” Jason Alarcon, CC ’10, said of the process.

But the site was eventually restored.

“Everyone will have an opportunity to register for the forum,” University officials said in an e-mail announcing the deadline extension.

According to Monica Quaintance, CC ’10 and a University Senator, she and one other student—whose identity was not clear by press time—were selected to oversee the lottery procecss and ensure that it is conducted fairly. Quaintance was informed of her selection in an e-mail from the office of University President Lee Bollinger, but she was unsure of the process through which she and the other student were chosen.

Meanwhile, campus groups planned a joint response to Thursday’s event.

Several political and service-oriented student groups held a meeting Saturday evening to discuss how they will supplement the ServiceNation event with their own programming.

“We want to harness that energy and bring Columbia students into the fold so that they can take part in this,” CCSC president George Krebs, CC ’09, said. Though the details of the student-organized, non-partisan event have not been finalized, Krebs said it will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday and will focus on community service.

Jason Patinkin, CC ’09 and public relations officer for Community Impact, said he hopes the event will allow students to get more involved in the election season and demonstrate the importance of community service.

College Democrats Executive Director Chris Daniels, CC ’09, said his group is steeling itself for the media onslaught that is sure to hit campus on Thursday. The Democrats will participate in a media training session to learn the essentials of speaking with reporters, as well as a policy workshop in collaboration with Students for Obama to master the platforms of both candidates.

The next day, Sept. 12, the Democrats will seek to “get some good debate going” over barbecue, according to Daniels.

More radical campus groups are also considering how they might speak out during Thursday’s event.

One group, Students for a Democratic Society, announced plans for a silent demonstration in an email Sunday night, although details had yet to be finalized. Other groups were still investigating options.

“We’re still asking around to progressive and radical groups on campus to see if we could organize something in unison with other campus activists,” Matt Swagler, GSAS, of the Columbia International Socialist Organization, said in an e-mail.

Some politically oriented students are still unsure about a key component of Thursday’s planning—their wardrobe. Though the day will seek to quiet partisan voices, some may express their politics with Palin pins or Obama tees.

“We can’t really tell our members what to do, but I can tell you that I won’t be wearing anything partisan,” Lauren Salz, BC ’11 and College Republicans executive director, said.

Additionally, the nonpartisan Columbia Political Union will hold a voter registration drive on College Walk on Thursday, before the event begins. The effort is cosponsored by the College Democrats and the College Republicans.

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