Field Research: College Debates

On April 10, 2017, I observed the 2017 UMBC Student Government Association presidential debate.

I take my seat near the back of the attentive congregation of folding chairs set up in the Student Organization Space. On the second floor of the Commons, the “Storg Space” is always the site of the SGA presidential debate. Three folding tables are set up on the side with the windows, in front of the chairs intended for students and viewers. At each table sits a Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidate. The three groups are not so different from each other, they don’t necessarily have bad blood yet, a way this debate strongly differs from past debates. I’m intrigued to see how this SGA Presidential debate goes.

SGA, the Student Government Association, at UMBC has a very complicated history when it comes to elections. The past three election cycles have been intense to say the least. Elections at UMBC are taken very seriously. My involvement in past campaigns allows me to know just how much work, and money, are willingly put into these mock-governmental elections. Who knows how the fourth will go?

I chose to observe the debate as my first piece of field research because of the students who run for SGA office, and those who go to observe and ask questions of their potential student representatives. Both the candidates and the students in the audience are key subjects in my research. They are college students actively participating in a type of political process. And the fact that they take it so seriously and to such a high level of intensity, shows the amount that they care to make an impact on their community.