USD Magazine, Fall 1996

Patriotism as a fashion statement. a

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Far every opinion, there was a sign. T he Camino Hall dormitory room of USD junior Nicole Lamperis is only a stone's throw from Shiley Theatre. But Lamperis, like many USD students, figured the only chance she had of seeing either presidential candi– date was on her television screen or through the dark– ened windows of a speeding limousine. Like many USD students, she got more than she bargained for. "I looked out my window and realized that my room had a per– fect view of Bob Dole's green room," Lamperis said as she and two fellow Camino residents, senior Jennifer Castello and junior Neva Smith, settled in to watch the Shiley Theatre action in the dorm's television lounge. "Just before the debate started, he was watching the baseball playoffs." If Lamperis were a reporter, she would have had the first scoop of the debate, as Dole gave the audience a sports update in his opening comments. Her inside information wasn't unusual, however, as she and the rest of Camino Hall's 270 residents were in the thick of activities for most of debate week. Television technicians ran cable through their rooms, police roamed the halls and Secret Service agents with bomb-sniffing dogs checked their closets. Through it all, the students say, they were excited just to be part of the process. "During all the unpredictable changes, everyone was great to us. The Secret Service agents even let us take a picture of them and their dogs," laughs Castello, while Smith adds, "Above all, we're just really proud that the debate happened at our school." If these three women felt privileged to be a few hundred yards from the stage, perhaps the luckiest students were those seated inside Shiley Theatre during the 90-minute debate. While the univer– sity initially expected to receive only a small number of seats inside the hall for students, the Commission on Presidential Debates released more tickets to the university almost at the last minute, and 115 undergraduate, graduate and law students eventually were admitted to the venue. Alternates who didn't make it into the audi– ence in the hall were treated to a VIP reception and viewing.

"I really tried to absorb the whole experience, from what the Secret Service agents were doing, to how the governor and others in the front row reacted to the questions, to what the president looked like when he was watching the audience," says Lynn Eldred, a doctoral candidate in the School of Education's leadership program and the first student selected from the more than 2,000 who entered a lottery for the tickets. "But one of the most memorable experiences came after the debate, when I was walking down Marian Way and saw Norman Mailer. He was just walking to his car by himself, so I got to talk with him about books and politics for a few minutes." Although Eldred's was the first name drawn for the audience, a mix-up in calling the students meant she was one of the last to know. "I first found out when a reporter from the Vista (USD's student newspaper) called me," she says. "It put me on Cloud Nine." Eldred wasn't the only student to be surprised by the opportunity to get close to a presidential candidate on debate night. Across cam– pus from Shiley Theatre, more than 2,000 students gathered in the Sports Center gym to view the historic event on two 20-foot-high

The audience in the Sports Center gym was 2,DDD strong.

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