‘Pizza and Politics’: How a small liberal arts college in Delco carries out tradition during the presidential debate

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Dozens of students at a tiny liberal arts college in Delaware County continued a more than 20-year tradition of engaging the American political process: “Pizza and Politics.”

A little more than 20 miles away from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Neumann University students watched the first — and possibly only — U.S. presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Unlocking Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes is crucial for any candidate. Reaching college-aged adults, a notoriously inactive voting bloc, might be the key to winning the Keystone State. Tuesday evening in Aston provided a snapshot into the critical demographic’s enthusiasm.

For many of these students, 2024 will be their first chance to cast their vote in a presidential election. The debate left many of the young suburban voters with mixed emotions.

“I would be remiss to say that I find disappointment within the way that our candidates have failed to really talk about change within our society,” Tamia Williams, 20, said.

Williams, a junior psychology major, said one of the biggest issues motivating her to vote is climate change. Although she said some of her questions went unanswered, Williams found hope in Harris’ campaign. Others left the debate leaning toward the GOP ticket.

“I’m still going to vote for Trump begrudgingly,” Adam Barisa, 19, said. “I don’t think he’s my favorite. Do I wish those were the two choices? No, but he’s more aligned with my values than Kamala Harris.”

Barisa, a sophomore accounting major, said he’s opposed to abortion due to his religious beliefs.

What did Neumann students take away from the debates?

The rules were simple: keep the volume low and focus on what the candidates were saying. For the most part, the students obliged. Trump’s lie about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio eating cats and dogs, however, drew the biggest collective gasp of the evening.

Students had a lot on their minds about what was said — and what was absent from the debate. Sahdaya Addy, 20, said she researched both Harris and Trump before Tuesday.

“I was expecting Trump to at least tell me a little bit more about his policies and the questions that were asked today at the debate,” Addy, a junior biology major, said. “But to me, it just seemed like a lot of deflections, a lot of things that weren’t being answered that I wanted to be answered.”

Addy said inflation and rising costs of living are her biggest concerns heading into November. She applauded Harris for her commitment to providing tax breaks to small business owners.

Williams said she’s excited to vote in the upcoming election and be a part of history, possibly electing Harris as the county’s first Black woman and Asian-American president. She said it gives hope to people that look like her.

However, some of her key issues like gun control were absent on the debate stage.

“We need to come up with a solution because our children are being killed in schools,” Williams said. “My lived experience on campus is being worried about what may happen if somebody came on this campus with a gun and so I think that the lack of policy and change within that area being talked about on this debate stage was a miss for tonight.”

From Bush to Biden, Neumann University students build tradition around political engagement

Political science professor Dr. Robert McMonagle believes there’s power in making space for political engagement.

“I started this back in 2004 during the George W. Bush administration and we’ve been operating through my State and Local Government class on a bi-annual basis, enjoying the debate and having a discussion about issues that matter to young voters,” McMonagle said.

In 2022, his students had six weeks to prepare ahead of the U.S. Senate debate between John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Given Harris’ late entry into the race, McMonagle’s students had just two weeks to pull together a watch party and voter registration drive. Maria Mayo-Jimenez, 21, remembered getting an email just before class began.

“We even didn’t know if this was gonna happen or not because there were talks about Trump not wanting to do the debate but regardless, we still got it under control and we all worked together,” Mayo-Jimenez, a junior political science major, said.

McMonagle said he’s proud of his class and wanted attendees to come away empowered.

Ahead of the debate, senior political science major Jahir Alleyne, 21, said climate change, immigration and foreign policy were at the top of his mind.

“The war in Gaza is also a really big concern that I hope is addressed during the debate because it’s not really that close to me but I see everything that’s happened there and I really want the war to end,” Alleyne said.

He checked polling the morning before the debate. The margins are razor thin. Considering Pennsylvania’s position as a swing state, McMonagle said it’s important to have an informed electorate.

“The stakes are high,” McMonagle said. “This is about power and it’s about the future of the United States of America.”

Nadira Roberts, 21, said she found clarity while watching the debate. As a criminal justice major, she said there was an absence of policy in the debate regarding reducing recidivism. However, she still enjoyed the experience.

“I was really intrigued by the many different opinions of our students here on campus and I think it was a very enriching experience,” Roberts said.

The deadline to register to vote in Pennsylvania is Oct. 21.

“I’m excited to finally put forth and put my voice out there. I know for me being an advocate for this is a really big and really passionate project of mine because I know so many students, especially people of color, don’t feel like their vote really counts or matters,” Roberts said. “And so, knowing that I can finally step into the ranks of being able to say my opinion and voting in a way that is reflective of me, my own values and my views — and not just the ones around me — is really important for me.”